Survival
by Chloe Silvers
Summary: The death of Jimmy Olsen left Chloe and Oliver vulnerable. How will they react to the newest Kandorian threat, and how will they prepare for the future? Chlollie.
1. Prologue

A/N: I do not own Smallville, its characters, or its ideas.

Prologue

It was no secret that Chloe Sullivan was addicted to coffee. She drank coffee like a fat person would reach for chocolate cake- it was her form of comfort food. Coffee was there for Chloe when she unwillingly moved from Metropolis to Smallville in the eighth grade. It was there for her whenever Clark Kent disregarded her feelings and chased Lana Lang. Coffee was there for Chloe when Clark brought her nightmare to life and abandoned her during the Spring Formal to rescue Lana. It was a silent friend throughout every single late night at the Torch and Metropolis University.

Coffee was the first thing Chloe reached for when she was fired from her dream job at the Daily Planet, and now she reached for it in the morning at the Watchtower. She sat in the darkness of the building, spread her hands around the coffee mug, and sipped slowly with her eyes closed. Chloe was trying to find a reason to live. The Justice League was separated, Clark was completing his Kryptonian training, she was fired from the Daily Planet, Lois was missing, and she was made a widow within a single year of marriage. There was no way to find Lois without the help of either the League or Clark, and there was no reason for Watchtower to continue without them. Sure, Chloe called the police every single day, but she knew that there was nothing that they could do. Trying to find Lois had become a habit, it all became a habit.

She had a lot of time to herself these days, which was never appreciated. Chloe purposefully packed her days with activities to prevent it from happening- free time warranted too much thinking. The more she thought about it, the more she began to realize that she had no life anymore- she sacrificed it for Clark years ago. Chloe sacrificed her career at the Daily Planet in order to keep Clark's secret safe. She sacrificed her marriage for Clark's safety, and now, she had nothing and nobody left.

She stood up in determination. "No", she said aloud to nobody in particular. "I have Watchtower and the League. I'm going to keep them safe. And I'll find Lois."

She turned on her laptop and took funds out of Oliver Queen's bank account. Hadn't he always assured her that Watchtower would always have his support? Right now, she needed to get Watchtower back online, and to do that, the building needed power.

After paying her bills, she called Emile. Chloe ordered him to acquire 6 tracking devices, one for each member of the Justice League. She felt a sense of strength rush back to her body, a sense of hope she hadn't felt in weeks.

A day later, Chloe personally went to Oliver Queen's apartment. She wanted to find him to explain the small monetary absence from his bank account, and also to discuss the reorganize the Justice League. His penthouse door was unlocked, but the CEO of Queen Industries was nowhere to be found. She almost left immediately, but turned around before closing the door. She knew that Oliver was in as much pain as she was, and one day when he remembered his heroic true nature, he would need the team again. Chloe walked over to his closet and reached for Oliver's favorite belt. She stuck it in her bag and walked away. Later that afternoon, a tracking device was installed in the back of the belt buckle and the belt was returned to its rightful place.

After the rest of the team unknowingly had the tracking device placed on them, Chloe placed the rest of her focus on locating Lois. She didn't become concerned until she realized that Lois wasn't anywhere on the planet. It was almost as if her cousin never existed.

Chloe couldn't trust her imagination in this situation: she had seen too many unexplained things throughout her life to even consider a rational explanation. There were only two logical explanations- either Lois had traveled through time or was dead, and she wasn't about to give up on Lois. Unfortunately, Clark was completing his Kryptonian training, so he couldn't help her rescue Lois from the past or future. All she could do was call the police.

Clark. Chloe was disappointed in herself for getting emotional with Clark. They had an interesting past; there was no question about that. She was in love with him for years, and it went by unacknowledged, the exception being red kryptonite and body swapping events. Chloe was tired of Clark right now- it was the same charade with him. He would doubt himself, doubt his relationship with whoever he was seeing, use Chloe emotionally and for her computer skills, save the day, and then abandon her until she was needed again.

She gave him advice, encouraged him, discouraged him when he lost control, found him whenever he was lost, gave him information that he needed, and constantly saved him when he rushed off into a kryptonite filled room. She knew that his life was important, regardless of the amount of times he played with it. There was a price to it: Chloe was exposed to meteor rocks, was tested on countless times, and had very near misses. She killed to protect his secret and was overtaken by Brainiac, which caused amnesia.

She wasn't sure of much these days, but she didn't love Clark anymore- she was sure of that. When she first saw Clark looking at Lois at more than just a friend, Chloe went to her apartment, locked the door, and silently cried for two hours. She realized that Clark fell in love with every girl that he came into contact with except for her, and she was tired of waiting. That was when she became certain of her decision to marry Jimmy. And now, due to Clark's unwavering faith in humanity, Chloe was a widow. He wasn't even present at the funeral.

Two weeks later, Lois came back to her. Chloe attempted to tell her about Jimmy's death, but she didn't stick around for very long. Lois went off to meet "the Blur" and left behind the Legion ring. The ring confirmed Chloe's suspicions- Lois went to the future, and although she didn't remember anything, the time travelling assassin was enough of a threat.

Clark came back in her life, causing Chloe to become emotionally vulnerable again. The loneliness overtook her, and Chloe begged Clark to go back to the future and save Jimmy's life. She cried and pleaded, but Clark coldly refused. Chloe understood- she always did, but decided to move on with her life and stop becoming Clark's constant go-to girl. Apparently, "the Blur" had Lois now.

She was slightly envious of Lois, but she had bigger things to worry about at the present time- Oliver was losing his sense of self, and that endangered the future of the Justice League. If its leader doubted himself, it would only be a matter of time until the entire group gave up, which would prevent future good. Chloe found a young woman on the streets named Veronica Sinclair.

Sinclair had very strict moral conducts and knew of the meteor infected. In the streets of Metropolis, she went by two aliases, Victoria and Roulette. She was known for punishing the unethical meteor infected, and Chloe hoped that she could convince Roulette to enact a controlled simulation with Oliver to help reinstate his beliefs and goals.

Chloe knew that in order for the plan to work, she needed to find the rest of the team, get them involved as well. She decided to start with the first member Oliver recruited- Bart Allen.


	2. Bart Allen

A/N: I do not own Smallville, its characters, or their main development.

Chapter One: Bart Allen

Chloe Sullivan pulled her car into Keystone Motors, a smile on her face and determined look in her eyes. After two weeks of dead ends, she finally found Impulse. He was working underneath a jeep, ripped jeans stained with black visible.

Chloe called out in a formal tone "Bart Allen?"

"Who's asking?" he replied, fatigue in his voice. He glanced at Chloe, saw the heels and charcoal gray skirt suit, and smirked to himself.

"An old friend" Chloe responded.

Bart wheeled away from the car as Chloe took a few steps back.

"Chloe! What can I do for you?" Bart asked enthusiastically.

Chloe looked at Bart closely. He was tired, but it was the newfound serious look and aging face that made her worried. Where was the laughing teenager that wouldn't stop hitting on her?

"Lunch. I'll pay" she said.

"If you're sure", he replied, a small glint of mischief in his eyes.

He got in the passenger seat of her car and Chloe drove to a nearby restaurant. She chose to sit in a booth separated from the rest of the crowd. The waitress came over and handed them menus.

"Order whatever you want" Chloe told him.

Bart smiled widely and ordered 7 meals from the menu. The waitress was astounded, but took the order nevertheless. She walked away after pouring two glasses of water.

"Bart, how are you?" Chloe asked, worry plaguing her face.

"I'm doing alright. I'm working honestly, if that's your concern", Bart said after a moment.

"I think after all this time, you can do better than that. How are you living?" Chloe asked, tentatively.

"Not so great. I won't bore you with the details." Bart told her, with a sense of finality.

"I want to know", she persisted.

"Fine. I've been honest. I haven't been stealing anything, and I took up a job as a car mechanic. It's…fairly modest pay. I live in a two room apartment, I haven't eaten a full meal in months. Because of that, I don't have my powers anymore."

"Your powers are gone?" Chloe said in disbelief.

"My powers work in two ways- an elevated metabolism helps with the acceleration. Just recently, I learned that you can't have one without the other, and when I stopped stealing and eating in excess, I lost my powers too." He explained.

"Is the aging permanent?" she asked.

Before Bart could reply, the waitress came to the table with some extra hands and set all of the dishes on the table.

"I don't know" Bart responded, almost the moment the waitress was out of earshot.

"Eat. All of this is for you- let's see if a full stomach will help your powers"

Bart smiled weakly and ate silently. As time passed, the serious face was replaced with a content one. He looked like Impulse again, and with a smile, Chloe paid the bill and they left the restaurant.

"Try your powers."

Bart did, but nothing happened.

"I guess your metabolism needs to speed up instead of having an instant boost. Since your powers had a gradual decrease, maybe it will take time?" Chloe asked.

"It _was_ a gradual decrease. Maybe it's good that my powers don't operate like an on/off switch." Bart reasoned.

"We have to make sure that you stay well fed. I'm staying in the Keystone Hotel for the week. I'll check on you."

"Chloe, what did you come here for?" Bart asked, as Chloe turned around.

"Check up on you." Chloe stated.

"Is that what this is for?" Bart asked, as he reached in his pocket and pulled out the tracking device. "Found it in my jacket", he said.

Chloe froze. "Bart, let me explain".

"Okay", he said slowly.

"After he died, you all went off the grid, and I assumed the worst. I need to bring you all together now."

"You couldn't have done that earlier? If we got together a month ago, I would probably still have my powers." Bart said, angrily.

"I was a bit…out of it for a few weeks. I'm getting better now- the League is all I have. It's all _we_ have." Chloe explained.

"You're trying to get everyone together? We all turned on each other, Chloe. Who's going to prevent it from happening again?" Bart asked.

"It's my fault. I'm trying to fix it. You all turned on each other because of _me_. We've _all _changed, Bart. Lois went into the future, and I don't know what she saw, but a Kryptonian came back with her, telling Clark that he would be responsible for the end of the world."

"Clark wouldn't- you know that" Bart said loyally.

"He changed too- who are we to decide what direction he will go in?" Chloe questioned

"I am _not_ going to plot against Clark. He is not the enemy", Bart decided.

"I'm not asking you to!" Chloe exclaimed.

"Then what _are_ you asking me to do?" Bart asked impatiently.

"Help me get everyone together. Haven't you wondered how everyone else is doing? I don't know how Victor, Dinah, or AC are right now, but if they're even remotely similar to Oliver right now-"

"What's wrong with Oliver? What happened?" Bart cut her off.

"Long story short, identity crisis: He feels responsible for breaking up the League and Jimmy's death. He's the stereotypical billionaire's son once more. He's always drunk and with a new girl every night. I installed the tracking devices because I was worried about him, and was terrified of what could be going on with the rest of you. I've been keeping an eye on all of you day and night- making sure that you aren't in trouble and that I can bail you out of jail if it came down to it. You have every right to be mad at me, Bart. But I need to help him, and to do that I need your help. And to do _that_, I need you to be happy and zipping around here." Chloe said all of this very fast, blinking quickly as well in an attempt to hold back the tears.

"He killed Lex."

"Lex had you in a chamber and forced you to run for hours. There was blood coming out of your nose, Bart. His doctors have experimented on _me_ more than just once. Lex was no saint, and I understand why Oliver did it. You know Oliver, Bart- you know that he regrets it every single day. He wouldn't be able to kill shamelessly like Lex did."

"I know, but what happens to the League after we get Oliver back? We have no main project, no 33.1." Bart asked.

"Tess Mercer's no innocent lamb. She's involved in whatever is about to come- I know it. And if that fails, there's always the routine crime." Chloe said with a smile.

"I'm in. But I don't have powers to help you with," Bart reminded her.

"I'll feed you. By the end of the week, hopefully you'll have your powers back. Then, we can track down the rest of the team. Bart, come home." Chloe said.

"Find the rest of them? Why Miss. Sullivan, I'm honored that I was your first choice", Bart said suavely.

Chloe laughed. He was back.

Every day for the rest of the week, Bart woke up to find an envelope on his nightstand. The envelope contained a thick wad of bills and a note containing two words, "From, Chloe". He continued to work as a mechanic, and at first, had three very satisfying meals. Two days later, his food intake start increasing exponentially until his face was young once more and he started to run. He started off with a light jog, and within the week, Bart was familiarizing himself with the speed of light once more.

After his speed was restored, Bart continued to work at Keystone Motors. One night, after a long day at work, Bart's arms were so tired that all he could think of was going back to the apartment and enjoying a good night's sleep. He was walking back to his apartment, when all of a sudden, he heard alarms go off.

Bart turned around to where the noise was coming from and saw three men run out of the jewelry shop across the street. It was almost pathetic- they had no getaway car and were just running away from the scene of the crime, bags filled with diamonds in hand. Bart scoffed to himself, thinking about his old life of robbery. He didn't have a getaway car either, but at the time, he didn't need one.

Bart sped over to the criminals and took the bags away from them. He went into the store, and dumped the bags on a counter. He ripped off the lights that were decorating the interior of the shop and sped back to the criminals. He knew a knot or two that would keep them in place, so he tied them to a telephone pole, and called the police, while speeding away from the scene.

He returned to his apartment, and sat thoughtfully. It had been a while since he had fought in the name of justice, but Bart still felt rush that came with saving the day. He started searching through his things, and didn't stop until he found a small key underneath a floorboard. He unlocked a drawer in his bedroom and grabbed the small earpiece inside. He wrapped the earpiece around his right ear, pressed it with his finger, and said clearly "Impulse, online."


	3. Arthur Curry

A/N: I do not own Smallville, or its characters.

Chapter Two: Arthur Curry

Chloe was eating lunch with Lois. It had been a long time since the two of them had a peaceful afternoon out together, and although Chloe would have preferred spending the afternoon at Watchtower, she had to keep up appearances so that her cousin would not investigate the Watchtower.

"I've been having these weird dreams recently, and I don't understand them", Lois said in between bites

"What are they about?" Chloe asked

"They're just strange." Lois said, blushing

"Look Lo, if they embarrass you, then maybe you should talk to a psychiatrist about it." Chloe said

"A shrink? Why would I need to see a shrink?" Lois wondered aloud.

"They can interpret your dreams- unlock the true meaning of them to give you a sense of understanding." Chloe explained

"Maybe I _should_ go see a psychiatrist to finally end this insanity. Can't guarantee that it'll work though- I've never believed in psycho-babble." Lois reasoned

Suddenly, Chloe's phone rang. She picked up "Hello?"

"Chloe, I found Aquaman." Bart said

"I'm listening." Chloe responded

"Long story short, he's in jail. Can you get here?" Bart asked anxiously

"Give me 20 minutes." she said curtly, hanging up the phone.

"Go, I have to get back to the Planet anyway." Lois said understandingly.

Chloe smiled at her cousin, and headed to the parking lot as quickly as she could. As she drove, her hands became slightly sweaty and her breath became heavy. She prayed that AC's face wasn't in the news, and that he was as far away from the newspapers as possible. If he became irresponsible and used his powers in public, Chloe couldn't save him. What was he in jail for, anyway?

She eventually arrived at Watchtower, and ran up the stairs as quickly as possible.

"What happened?" Chloe asked, breathless.

"I was looking at the tracking signals when I noticed that AC's signal was completely still. I thought that he was dead, so I gave it a closer look, and found him in jail. Then I did a little research." Bart started

"What did he do?" Chloe asked

"Well, he's incredibly passionate about his protests now. He's trying to get the president to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, so he got a group of environmentalists outside of the Whitehouse." Bart explained

"Skip ahead to the illegal part." Chloe told him

"Well, the environmentalists were outside with the signs, while he had a separate group nude bicycling for the cause. They arrested him for being a public disturbance." he clarified

"Great. What's the price for his bail?" she asked.

"20,000" Bart told her.

"Think that Oliver's going to notice that disappear?" she asked him

"I don't think so- but maybe you should tell him what's going on, Chloe."

"I'll explain it to Oliver when he starts spending his nights saving the city, rather than drunk with his next lay" she sighed.

"Well, I know where he is. I'll take you with me, if you want" Bart said.

"I've never…" Chloe trailed off

"Wait, Clark's never taken you along before?" he asked, in disbelief

"Well, no. He saves me, he goes where I send him, and he vanishes out of nowhere. I've never gone with him" Chloe explained.

Bart lifted her off the ground "Hold tight, and close your eyes. I don't need you vomiting on me" he said, with a laugh. She complied and they sped away.

Arthur Curry always liked orange. Green and orange were colors that he wore constantly, especially since they were the colors of his college, the University of Miami. Prison orange however, was not his color. This was his first night in prison, and they clothed him in prison colors instead of letting him go to his hotel room to change first- it was embarrassing.

AC should have been thinking about how to get out of prison, but instead, he was thinking about global warming, and what he was going to do for his next rally. If he was in prison right now, that meant that the nudity worked- the people were in shock. If only they responded the same way about littering. He knew so many dolphin families that were torn apart because people threw their trash in the water during fishing trips.

"Arthur Curry?" He looked up

"Yes?" he asked.

"You made bail" a deep voice replied, opening the door.

Shrugging, AC walked out jail. He didn't have any inmates in the cell with him, but he was thirsty as hell. He decided to go swimming in the hotel's indoor swimming pool the second he got back. He went to a pay phone and was about to call a cab when he saw a flash of red pass him. Suddenly, Chloe Sullivan and Impulse were right in front of them, smiling.

AC ignored them. He stuck a couple of quarters in the phone and tapped his feet impatiently. He told the cab company where he was, and hung up. He contemplated waiting in the telephone booth, since he really didn't want to revisit his past. To him, the Justice League was dead. He realized that he couldn't hide away from them, so he opened the door.

"What?"

"Are you even going to thank us for bailing you out of jail?" Bart asked

"I didn't ask you to." AC replied

"You're not even remotely curious as to why we're here?" Chloe asked him

"What, do you guys need me to break in somewhere underwater or something?" he asked, annoyed.

"We need you back" Bart told him

"Well, I don't need you guys. I've been doing fine on my own. I wouldn't have stayed in jail for very long anyway- my record is practically clean."

"You've been in jail before, AC" she reminded him.

"For releasing dolphins back into the ocean. I didn't kill anyone, Chloe" he said irritated.

"So that's what this is about- Oliver murdering Lex" Bart said.

"I don't take orders from a murderer." AC said plainly. His throat was incredibly dry now- if he didn't get water soon, he would pass out.

"You never took orders from anyone!" Chloe exclaimed

"Yes I did, and now I have my own life- separate from constantly risking my neck. I can do some good here" AC told her.

"You have a degree in marine biology." Chloe said bluntly

"So?" AC glared

"You're trying to get the president to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. In order to make a real difference in that respect, you need a law degree under your belt, and experience in international relations." She explained

"Says the fired journalist", AC muttered under his breath.

"That's right, AC. I was fired from the Daily Planet because Lex wanted to know Clark's secret and I couldn't let that happen. But at least I know what's important." she said, shaking.

AC opened his mouth to say something apologetic when the taxi pulled up. He looked at Chloe and Bart sadly, muttered "I have work to do", and got in the car. The cab drove away.

There was a long silence between Bart and Chloe. Her position was rigid, and Bart was traumatized at the sight in front of him. Chloe was always all smiles and laughter, and now she was silent and in shock. Bart didn't know what to do, so he just lifted her up, and took her back to the Watchtower, putting her on her bed. He went upstairs to the Watchtower computers and pressed a couple of buttons.

Bart never did any background checks on his teammates- he thought that it was an invasion of privacy, and he personally did not like to be judged by his past. He was curious now, and felt that a familiarity with AC's past would help in convincing him to come back.

He was up all night researching Arthur Curry. He had a legal pad handy for quick notes, and printed out several articles about his fish-loving friend. He started with AC's childhood, and stopped to go to the bathroom when Oliver recruited him.

When he came back, he focused on Aquaman's recent activities, focusing on his work. There wasn't a lot of newspaper coverage on him, but he found the blog of one of AC's environmentalist friends that detailed the work they did together. He read entry upon entry, viewed every single picture closely, and skimmed through the preaching paragraphs.

Chloe woke up in the morning, and did not find Bart. What she did find however, were the pages of white and yellow coloring the second floor of the Watchtower. She fumbled around for her earpiece, and said "Watchtower is online."

"Well, good morning Watchtower." a cheerful voice replied

"Bart, where are you?" she asked

"I'm in D.C. Nation's capital and all that. I'm going to bring AC home, don't worry." he said reassuringly

"Impulse, I don't know about this. What if we get everyone together and Oliver still doesn't come back?" she asked

"It's going to work, I promise. I'll be back with AC- I understand him now. Impulse is temporarily offline."

All was silent. Chloe started reading Bart's research. She wanted to know what gave Bart such incredible clarity.

AC was checking out of his hotel, as Bart suspected. AC hadn't stayed in the same place for longer than 1 week for quite some time now. He also knew that he would have to be incredibly aggressive in order to turn AC around.

AC walked out of the hotel, a look of relief in his face as he straightened the strap on his backpack. All color was drained from his face however, when he saw Bart leaning against a wall, signature red hoodie visible, hair slightly tossled.

"Hello, Arthur." he said in a formal voice

"Arthur? It's never been Arthur.", AC said, confused

"Oh, so we're still friends? And I'm _allowed_ to call you AC?" Bart replied

"We're still friends, bro. But I can't talk. I have a flight in 2 hours." he rushed.

"I know. To Seattle." Bart told him

"How do you know that?" AC asked

"Let me ask _you _a question, AC, since we're friends and all. What the hell was your problem yesterday?" Bart demanded

"I told you- the League's dead. I have work to do." he said, walking away and brushing Bart's shoulder.

Bart grabbed his arm, and super-sped him to a nearby park.

"I'm not finished." Bart explained

"Well, I'm finished with the League." AC responded

"If you take your nose out of the air for 5 minutes, you would see that there are things going on in the world that are bigger than your current little tiff with the League. In case you're wondering why Clark didn't call on you for help when Chloe ran off, it's because we didn't need any underwater assistance." Bart told him.

"I have skills out of water." AC protested

"Yeah? Would that have helped the cause? Would they save Jimmy Olsen's life?" Bart demanded

"Not really." AC said weakly

"That's why Clark didn't need you. Trust me, if Davis and Chloe were underwater in a submarine of some sort, you would have been our main man. But that wasn't the case." Bart told him

"Then, why would you guys need me now?" AC asked

"Believe it or not, Oliver's more messed up than you are right now. We need to help him- to save him. Chloe also thinks that there's something bigger out there that we have to prepare for. Chances are we're going to need you for that." Bart said

"What bigger things?" AC wondered aloud

"If you're in, then cancel your flight. We'll go back to Watchtower, and you can ask Chloe yourself." Bart said

"If I'm not interested after I hear what she has to say, then what?" AC asked him

"When we go to Watchtower, and you apologize to Chloe, and _then_ hear what she has to say, you mean. She was too good for that newspaper and you know it. If you're not the least bit interested after that, then I will personally take you to Seattle, and you can continue your work there. Sound good?" he asked

"Fine" AC said. He took out his cell phone and although he was charged, he cancelled his flight.

Chloe was still reading when a flash of red passed her. She was still having a bit of difficulty in distinguishing Bart's flash of red and Clark's blur. She smiled when she saw Bart accompanied with AC.

"Chloe, I'm so sorry about yesterday" AC told her genuinely.

"I'm sorry too." Chloe said.

"Bart tells me that there's something big coming?" AC questioned

"Lois disappeared for three weeks, and she came back with Clark's Legion ring" she said

"What does that mean?" AC asked

"The ring took her to the future" Bart explained.

"Right, and when she came back, a Kandorian assassin came back with her. The assassin told Clark that he would cause the end of the world. She told me this morning that she's been having strange dreams, but refuses to tell me what they are about. I think that she's having dreams about her visit to the future, since she couldn't remember anything that she saw there." she explained

"What did you tell her?" AC asked her

"I told her to see a psychiatrist about the dreams. I told her that a psychiatrist can interpret her dreams and tell her what they mean." Chloe told AC

"Well, if she found out Clark's secret in the future, then we can't let that happen now" AC said

"That's what I thought. So I'm thinking about finding her a psychiatrist, and putting them on our bill. Pay the psychiatrist to botch up the interpretation of the dream so that Lois doesn't discover the truth about Clark, and at the same time find a real representation of the dream so that we know what's going to happen." she explained

"After we find out what happens, what do we do?" Bart asked

"We try to prevent it, and prepare in case we're too late." she said.

"Do we need AC to help Oliver?" Impulse asked

"Not as of right now. But I do think that Tess Mercer has some involvement in whatever is going to happen in the future. And to do so, marine life might be at risk, just like when we first met. We could use your brain on things too, AC. What do you say?" she asked

"I'm in." AC told her. "For good this time."

A/N: I'm sorry that it took so long to update! I hope that you are enjoying the story so far.


	4. Victor Stone

A/N: I do not own Smallville or its characters.

Chapter Three: Victor Stone

**Flashback**

Chloe Sullivan was at the Watchtower, programming furiously. She was trying to program a fire alarm into the security system where Oliver Queen was addressing the members of his board. When she finally succeeded, she clicked on a couple of buttons to reveal the video feed of the room. Although there were red lights flashing, and an alarm blaring, Chloe looked straight at Oliver.

"Come on, Oliver, what are you going to do?" she muttered under her breath. She wished that she could hack her way into his earpiece so that he would know what was going on. She wanted to tell him that the pressure plate didn't have a bomb, but she couldn't. Maybe Oliver would figure it out. _Technology can only go so far_, she thought to herself bitterly. All she could do now was watch.

The world did not need to know the truth about Lex Luther's death, although telling it would relieve a burden. Chloe however, knew one thing- the world would not be safe if Oliver was in jail. People would start to investigate him, and once they discovered that he was really the Green Arrow, the identities of heroes all throughout the world would slowly unfold. The world needed Oliver Queen to be free.

Chloe stared at the man on stage, waiting in anticipation as Clark went behind the scenes and destroyed the real bomb. When the last person hurried out of the room, Oliver closed his eyes for a moment. Then, he stepped back.

"How did you know that the pressure plate was a fake?" she heard Clark's voice

"I didn't." Oliver replied softly, shaking his head.

Chloe's eyes widened as she felt a sinking sensation deep in her stomach. She turned away from the computer and walked slowly into the kitchen. She grabbed a coffee mug, and filled it with coffee and sugar. She needed to process this, so she walked around to the middle of the room, and sipped from the mug. There was only one thought screaming in her head: _what if he had died?_

Her hands shook at the thought, and the next thing she knew, the coffee mug crashed on the tile floor, and shattered in pieces. The black liquid colored the white tiles, as Chloe slid down onto the floor, wrapping her arms around her legs. She stared at the mess in front of her, and tried to block out a constant ringing noise in her ears.

**End Flashback**

It was 6 o'clock in the morning, and Chloe was tapping away at the Watchtower computers. It had been two days since Oliver's suicide attempt, and she had been working on the ultimate plan to bring him back to his senses. She had come to the conclusion that Oliver was a hero, and that his suicide attempt proved that he was willing to die for what he believed in. Although murder was wrong, Lex Luther certainly wasn't a saint. Oliver could still be saved, and she was on a mission. She hadn't slept, that much was certain from her messy short hair and the dark circles underneath her eyes. She finished her typing, and clicked print.

The front door opened, and Arthur Curry walked in, adorned in his usual orange and green outfit and headset. He sat down after downing a tall glass of water and carrying the water pitcher along with him.

"Use a coaster", Chloe told him as she grabbed her print-outs. A.C. complied, but scowled at Chloe when her back was turned as she reached for more coffee. The coffee was wiped from the kitchen floor, but the broken pieces of the mug were still there. Chloe had swept them into a corner.

"Alright, so let's go over the plan" he said.

"Okay. Roulette wants to have lunch tomorrow to go over everything, so we better get our story straight. I want you coming with me on this one." She told him

"Okay. First question: location?" he started, smiling.

"The special casino that you and Bart helped restore, with help from yours truly. It will have paid actors there to gamble their money away, bartend, and make the entire thing seem real." she replied

"Okay, let's start at the beginning. Oliver's position?" he asked

"He'll be recklessly gambling his money away, drunk," She said sadly.

"Roulette's position?" he prompted

"She goes over to the table, and starts a conversation" She replied

"What are his possible responses?" he asked

"Either calling it a night, or attempting to seduce her." She said, curtly

"What will Roulette do in either situation?" he asked her

"For the first situation, try and get him to stay. For the second, try and play hard to get." She said

"What's the next step?" he asked her

"She gets him to swallow the pill" she replied

"What if he doesn't? Oliver's not stupid, you know." He told her

"She'll ask him if he has anything to lose." She said

"Okay, so he takes it, and is knocked out. What next?" he asked

Before Chloe had a chance to respond, Bart super-sped over, and started tapping rapidly on a computer. Chloe realized early that in order to put the plan into action, she needed the rest of the team back together.

Unfortunately, Victor and Dinah never stayed in one place for very long. Chloe suspected that like Bart, Victor and Dinah found the tracking devices and decided to move around since they couldn't turn them off. Chloe felt guilty for sending Bart around the world the second that their blips steadied. There had been a lot of dead ends.

"What happened?" AC asked

"I found Victor. I don't know what he's doing, but he's flying and his blip's moving fast. I think he's been programmed to do something." he replied quickly.

Chloe looked at the tracking blip. Bart was right- it was moving a lot faster than usual.

Bart moved away from the computer and Chloe typed quickly. "You're right. Someone programmed a virus in Victor, so that he can't do anything until the command has been fulfilled."

"Have you seen anything like it before?" AC asked her

"When I was in high school, there was a woman who used technology to brainwash my friends to try and kill me. That's the only similarity that I can think of." She told him

"Well, what did you do to fix it back then?" Bart asked

"A good old fashioned bop on the head did the trick" Chloe told him.

"But none of us can fly! We can't get up there", AC told her.

"Yeah, but this is literally programmed into Victor. It's not hypnosis, it's different. I should be able to get in there and disable it or something." She rushed over to the fridge, and took out something that was wrapped in tinfoil. It had a cylindrical shape.

"Impulse, I need you to get over there, and follow him from below. Take this to go." she told him, throwing him the object. Bart caught it, and peeled off the foil. He saw that it was a burrito, and smiling before taking a huge bite of it, and speeding away.

She gave her printouts to AC. "We'll verbally go over the loopholes of the plan later. Here's the general overview- could you take a look? If there are any big mistakes, we need to fix them."

"Sounds like a plan", he replied as he reached for a pen.

"Impulse, what's your status?" she said through her earpiece

"I caught up to him. I'm trying to get through to him, but nothing's working." Impulse told her

"This virus is complex. I'm trying to disable it, but the best that I can do right now is turn him off. Has anyone spotted him yet?" Chloe asked

"He flew past a plane of people. A couple of little kids noticed, but I don't think anyone's going to believe them. Watchtower, do what you have to do. We can't have anyone important recognizing him", Impulse told her.

Chloe stared at the screen as she typed. "Alright, I'm going to turn him off. He's going to fall, and I need you to catch him okay? Take him to a little hotel- nothing too exciting."

"Got it."

"5…4…3…2…1…now." She said, as she pressed a button.

Victor Stone fell. His once red eyes became brown, and then closed as his body became rigid and dropped like a rock. Bart positioned himself to catch him, but ended up breaking his fall instead.

"Dude, you're way too heavy" he told Cyborg, although he wasn't heard. Bart picked him up, and sped to a nearby hotel. After placing him on a bed, he said in his earpiece "Impulse to Watchtower, Cyborg is in hibernation mode. I'm coming back."

Impulse sped back to the Watchtower, and AC gave him a high five "Nice one, bro", he said with a chuckle.

"We can't just leave him at a hotel. What next?" Bart asked Chloe

"Hold on a second, Bart." She said, her eyes still on the screen of the computer, her fingers moving at light speed.

"Okay. I just removed the virus from Victor's body. You broke his fall Bart, but he's still in pretty bad shape. We should pay a visit to that hotel in the morning when he reboots- give him an upgrade, and maybe try and get him back."

"What about lunch with Roulette?" AC asked her.

"I think that we can still make that. We can always make it a late lunch if everything goes wrong. For now, Cyborg's in one place. We'll be able to find him tomorrow."

"What was the command? What was Vic forced to do?" Bart asked

"He was programmed to blow himself up in front of the United Nations", she said softly.

"Cyborg's strong. How did he let someone get that close to destroying him?" AC wondered, aloud.

"I don't know, AC. We're going to have to ask Victor. Right now, we should iron out the details of the plan, so that we're ready for lunch tomorrow."

Hours later, the group was exhausted, but every hole in the plan was now filled. Chloe walked over to one of the computer monitors and pushed a couple of buttons. She glanced at Victor's steadied tracking blip and looked at the location.

"Good work today, boys. Get some sleep. In the morning, we're going to Philadelphia."

***

The next day, the group was in Victor's hotel room. Bart and AC stood in the middle of the room as Chloe set down her laptop bag and a large stainless steel briefcase. She walked over to the bed that Victor was lay in, and took out her laptop.

She typed on it for a minute, and glanced over at the half-man/half-machine that was in front of her. She had no idea what his reaction to their presence was going to be, and she was a bit nervous. Then, she realized that regardless of the team, they were all friends first. She pressed enter.

As if he had woken up from his worst nightmare, Victor's eyes opened widely, and he sprang up from the bed. "Chloe? AC? Bart? What's going on?" he asked, confused

"Victor, what is the last thing that you remember?" Chloe asked softly

"I was talking to my buddy Ron Evers in Chicago, and then…nothing." Victor said

"Who's Ron?" Bart asked him

"A friend of mine- he works for the Geek Squad. We're really close." Victor answered

"Did you tell him about…you know…?" AC asked awkwardly

"That I'm basically a human machine? Yeah, after a while- he's okay with it." Victor told him

Chloe researched Ron Evers in her laptop. "Victor, Ron isn't who you think he is." She explained

"What do you mean?"

"The Geek Squad cover makes sense. He gave you a virus- it took control of your entire body, and forced you to carry out a singular command."

There was a moment of silence. Victor was trying to process it, but he couldn't help but wonder "Chloe, what did he force me to do?" he asked quietly

She pressed a couple of buttons on her laptop and turned it around so that he could see. "He programmed you to explode, like a bomb. You were supposed to blow up the United Nations building", she explained.

"If I exploded, I would be dead. He's my best friend- he's been there for me. I was depressed, and he helped me get my life back together. He wouldn't do that to me!"

"Look at the screen, Victor. You were programmed."

"Why should I believe you? I haven't seen you guys in months." Victor said, bitterly

AC stepped in "Chloe's trying to get us all back together. We need to be a team again."

"Why? I wasn't even involved when Clark needed 'the team'" he said, making air-quotes

"You should be grateful. You don't have Jimmy Olsen's blood on your hands." Bart told him, shaking his head slightly.

"So I should be grateful that I wasn't called in when you guys needed me? I could have helped- I could have set off the bombs from far away. I could have been in the room when he died, could have stopped Davis" Victor said, almost in tears now.

"You can't turn back time, Victor." Chloe said, trying to reach out to him.

"I know what you're going through right now, bro. I really do." AC said, stepping forward.

"How?" Victor asked.

"I wasn't Clark's go-to man either. And on some level, I don't think that he even called Oliver. He knew because he got everyone together in the first place. It was his team." AC told him

"Clark is like that sometimes. There are times in which his needs seem to outweigh everyone else's." Chloe said

"It doesn't make him a bad hero, or person for that matter. It just makes him…human. Sometimes, we all need to be selfish" Bart added

"Exactly. It's not that Clark prefers one member to another. Sometimes he just doesn't think", AC explained.

"It's not just that. It's different for me. It feels as if…" Victor trailed off

"As if people take advantage of you. As if you don't matter in the group and if you just take yourself out of the picture, you think that everything would run smoothly without you." AC finished for him

Just then, one singular tear rolled down Cyborg's eye. "Yes. Like in the end, all I am is a machine." He said

"Look", Chloe said, her finger wiping the tear away, and showing it to him.

"I'm…crying?" Victor asked, hesitantly.

"See? You were a human before you were upgraded, and you are still human now" Chloe said, firmly.

"I can't help but think that if I had blown up the United Nations, all those people…"

"But you didn't." Bart confirmed

"Why didn't I?" Victor asked

Chloe put an arm around him "Because we didn't let it happen." She said

"We _won't_ let anything happen." AC told him

"If it happened, I would be dead. How can someone who even pretends to be my best friend have the heart to kill me?" Victor asked, still confused

"He took advantage of you", Bart said simply.

"And we're never going to let you get hurt like this ever again." Chloe said, putting away her laptop and picking up the stainless steel briefcase. She looked at Victor's scratches and bruises, guilty.

"What's that?" Victor asked, curiously

"Queen Industries upgrade. No matter what happens to you physically, this will help. You will heal yourself." She explained

"This isn't a bribe to get me back on the team, is it?" he asked

"No bribing. If you don't want to come back, you can take it and walk out of here. We will never follow you again, although our door will always be open. But if there is a little part of you that wants to stop moving from place to place and feel as if you have a _family_ that loves you and is there for you, then just come _home_." Chloe said genuinely.

"I'm coming back with you guys. But on one condition" he stated

"Name it", Chloe said

"I want you guys to keep me in the loop. Whatever Oliver's planning, I just want to know what's going on, regardless of whether or not I'm needed" Victor told them

"Done." Chloe told him

"Yeah, but there's one problem- Oliver's not himself, and it's up to us to get him out of the funk that he's in" AC said.

"He's blaming himself for what happened to Jimmy, and he's gone back to being his old different woman every night, binge drinking, reckless, careless self." Bart explained

"I'm afraid it's a bit more serious than that, you guys." Chloe said. The three men looked at her.

"Ollie tried to kill himself two days ago", she whispered. If she didn't say it too loudly, maybe it wouldn't be true.

"We need to help him, now" Bart and AC said together.

Victor nodded his head, more certain of his path now than he had in weeks.

"How can I help?"


	5. Dinah Lance

A/N: I do not own Smallville, its characters, the character development, or the main plot. That'd be nice, though.

Chapter Four: Dinah Lance

5 days. It had been five days since Oliver had attempted suicide, and Chloe still hadn't slept. The boys were worried about her- Bart tried to take away her coffee, AC tried to get her out of the Watchtower, and Victor tried to do everything so that Chloe wouldn't worry. Instead of feeling supported and secure enough to sleep, however, Chloe kept on working.

They already had the plan finalized: Roulette gave the okay, and the paid actors were there to give the image of a working casino. Oliver was already becoming a regular there, Victor and Bart knew their roles in and out, and AC was ready to look over things in case Clark or Lois needed Chloe for something during the mission.

The only thing that was missing was Dinah. She was the only missing element, and she was needed to shatter glass, without anybody knowing that it was her. Dinah's blip was almost always moving, and Chloe was certain that there was a pattern. She sat at the computer day and night, legal pad and pen in hand, never taking her eyes off of the blip.

AC, Bart, and Victor were crowded around the kitchen

"She's at it again." Bart said, shaking his head.

"She's going to crash." AC said

"I know. We need to do something." Victor told them

"Like what? Short of disconnecting the computers, there is nothing stopping her", AC said, sighing.

"You mean, short of drugging her, there is nothing stopping her", Bart said.

"No. It's completely unethical." Victor told them

"It needs to be done. She's driving herself insane- constantly muttering to herself and staring at Canary's blip." AC said

"All she needs is a good night's sleep" Victor said

"Which she isn't taking", Bart told him

"Vic, I'm close to just ripping that legal pad out of her hands. She's like a machine!" AC exclaimed

"Fine. We'll put something in her coffee. She's going to be furious later." Victor reminded them

"She'll yell at us later, but at least she'll be well rested." Bart said

"What are we going to do while she's sleeping?" Victor asked

"Easy- we track down Canary, or at least find out the so-called pattern that Chloe thinks is there." AC answered

Bart broke open a sleeping pill and stuck the powdery remnants into a cup of coffee. He handed it to AC, who added sugar. AC handed the mug to Victor, who stirred the mixture. Victor went up to Chloe and grabbed a coaster. She glanced at him, and he smiled, showing her the coaster. She nodded as he placed the cup on the coaster and walked away.

Almost immediately, Chloe reached for the coffee and took a large gulp. Within twenty minutes, the cup was empty, and Chloe was still working. She was about to tear a page out of the legal pad, but she started feeling dizzy. Chloe put the legal pad down, and started walking towards her laptop. Her body was moving a fraction of a second slower than she intended it to. And then, she collapsed.

Bart sped over, and caught her. Then, he sped her over to a bed, and tucked her in.

"Sorry, gorgeous. It's for your own good", he told her. Then, he sped over to the computers, and picked up one of the many yellow pieces of paper that were surrounding them. "What have we got here?" he asked

"It looks like Canary's in Seattle." Victor said, glancing at the blip.

"Yeah, but Chloe knew that. And if she knew that Canary's in Seattle, then why aren't we on a jet getting there?" AC wondered

"Maybe because Chloe doesn't know what's going on with Canary right now? She's probably trying to figure out what she's been doing with herself." Bart said

"Okay, so first order of business is figuring out what Canary's up to." Victor said, drawing up a list.

"Second is trying to figure out her routine. Dinah is always on the move. Chloe probably wanted to pick a definite place and time." AC added

"Okay." Victor added it to the list.

"And then, we go and confront", Bart said.

"But before we do any of that, let's see what Watchtower found out", Victor said.

***

After one day of searching through Chloe's papers, the boys knew what Canary was doing. She was working in a florist's shop in Seattle, named Sherwood Florist. It was the location of the shop however, that was interesting. Canary picked a shop next to a suspicious Laundromat. Victor found out that Canary was trying to bust a drug ring, by herself.

"We have to get there", AC said, when Victor told him of his discovery.

"Is it our place? Does Dinah want us involved?" Victor asked

"She doesn't know that we know what she's up to. I say we keep a close eye on her. If she busts them, then that's fine. If she gets caught and ends up in trouble, we intervene." Bart said

"Why should we wait for her to get in trouble? What if something does happen and we're not there in time?" AC asked Bart

"We should wake up Chloe, see what she thinks. She's already been sleeping for one day. She should be rested enough." Victor said

"We _can_ take care of things without Watchtower, you know." AC told him

"But it wouldn't be good if she wakes up with nothing more than a 'Sorry Chloe, we're in Seattle.' What if something happens to _us_ while we're there?" Bart asked

"Okay, we'll wake her up. She'll probably want to come with us- try and get Dinah back." AC said

"Are you kidding? If they catch Canary, it's obviously not a safe place for Watchtower. She's staying here", Victor decided.

"She can make her own decisions", a female voice called from a distance.

***

The three of them turned around, to see Chloe. You could tell that she was well rested from the lack of circles under her eyes and the look of anger and determination on her face.

"Uh, Chloe…" Victor stumbled

"Hey, Beautiful!" Bart tried to get on her good side.

AC just inched away slowly, as Chloe walked closer. They were expecting yelling, screaming, and punching. What they got was worse.

"You _drugged_ me?" Chloe asked, in a deathly whisper.

"Chloe, you were awake for five days. You needed to sleep, and you weren't listening to anyone. We did what we had to." AC told her, grabbing her shoulders and giving her a little shake.

"That doesn't give you guys complete control over my body!" Chloe exclaimed

"We had to help you help yourself. Five days, Chloe. What were you _thinking?_" Bart asked her

"I was going to sleep eventually." Chloe reasoned

"Really? When exactly were you planning on sleeping, Chloe?" Victor asked her

"Right after I figured out Canary's routine, and tracked her down. And convinced her to come back. And after we saved Oliver", she said delusional.

"All of that could take weeks" AC told her.

"No, it wouldn't have. Oliver needs us _now._ He doesn't have weeks! We can't waste a single second!" Chloe exclaimed

Bart went over to her and gave her a hug. "You _have_ to take care of yourself, Chloe. You're no good to _the team_ exhausted or dead." He reasoned

"Besides, we're here. You don't have to do everything by yourself anymore." Victor assured her

She took a moment to collect herself, and asked "While I was snoozing, what did you guys find out?"

"You were right. Dinah has a routine." Victor confirmed

"She's been following this group of people" AC said, giving her printouts of pictures and descriptions. She thumbed through the pages.

"These men run the Laundromat that is located next to the flower shop that Canary's been working at. They've been carrying out illicit activities for months." Bart told her

"The only problem is that they have the police on their side. They have a few members on the inside: District Attorneys, local government agents- they know what they're doing. Canary's trying to do it alone." AC explained

"So the only question is what do we do next? Do we stop her, or do we wait until she needs us?" Victor asked

"We'll watch her from a distance. If she needs an assist, Bart can get there in a split second while the rest of us get there in the jet. Get sleep you guys. Good work." She decided

"We'll get some sleep while you take a look at everything, and keep an eye on her. When we wake up though, you're sleeping. You're at least taking a nap", Victor decided.

"Yes, Dad" she replied, rolling her eyes.

***

The boys went to sleep, and Chloe put on a pot of coffee. She looked over the pages that AC gave her earlier on the Chinese mobsters. After she completed her own research on the men, she glanced at Dinah's blip. It was still- uncommonly so.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no, no", she said fearfully. She printed out Canary's coordinates. Chloe put on her headset, and woke up Bart, Victor, and AC.

"Sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep guys. I think she's been caught."

Victor woke up almost instantly, and poured a nearby glass of water on AC, who woke up. Chloe ran over to Bart's bed and shook him awake. "Bart, wake up. I think that Canary's been caught. Here are the coordinates. I need you to take a quick peek. Can you do that?" she asked

"Yeah, sure." Bart said. He sped over to the coffee, poured some in a cup, and gulped it straight. And then, he sped away.

"AC, Victor, suit up. We can't call Oliver's pilot- not this early in the morning. It'll look too suspicious- friends of the CEO of Queen Industries going to Seattle at two in the morning. Bart's going to have to carry us all one by one. I know it bruises your egos, but please yell at me later" she said, hurrying.

"Impulse, what's your status?" she asked

"She's at some sort of warehouse. They don't know who she is, but she's hurt pretty badly. I think they tortured her."

"Can you get her out of there?" She asked him

"Not from where you are, you can't. I need codes- I need you to actually be here. I don't think that you can open some of the doors at the Tower. Should I pick you up?"

"No, come back and pick up Victor. He'll get you in, and help out in case you need physical assistance."

"Pick me up? It almost as if we're going on a date, Chloe." Victor protested

Chloe smiled to herself. "Put on your headset. He'll be coming any second. I'll walk you through everything." She said, typing. Suddenly, she was able to pull up the blue-prints of the warehouse.

Victor grabbed his headset as Bart sped over and took him away.

***

"Cyborg to Watchtower, we're in position"

"Good, I've already put the video feed on a loop. For fifteen minutes only, you are invisible. You need to follow my instructions very carefully. There should be a door right in front of you. Type in 67834."

"67834. We're in."

"Walk about 15 paces, and make a left. There should be two security guards."

Victor punched the security guards out

"Impulse to Watchtower, we got the guards."

"Keep on walking. At the end of the hallway, make a right, and then a left. Cyborg, there will be a door that you have to deactivate. I can't get it from here."

They walked. Cyborg plugged himself into the door, and as his left eye turned red, the door opened. "Piece of cake."

"Three guards ahead."

Bart sped around the guards and knocked them into each other.

"We're clear, Watchtower."

"Second door on the right, and we have our bird. What can you see?"

"She's bruised pretty badly. They must have beaten her" Victor said

"Cyborg, look at that thing up there. It's an individual dropper. Chinese water torture."

"How many people are inside?" Chloe asked

"Two. Suits. They must be heading the operation. They're trying to find out who she is, who she's working for."

"Cyborg, I need you to get in the room." She replied

"No problem" he said, once again plugging himself into the door.

They opened the door, and Victor threw both of the men across the room, knocking them out

"Hey!" Bart exclaimed

"Sorry, couldn't let you have all the fun", Victor said, laughing.

Bart ran over to Canary, and unstrapped her. "Are you okay?"

"Watchtower to Impulse, bring Canary up to the roof, and pick me up. AC, I'm sorry, but I need you to stay here and overlook things", Chloe said as she strapped on her laptop bag.

"Not a problem. There's no water way over there, anyway." AC said, putting on his headset.

Cyborg, Impulse, and Canary ran up the stairs to the roof, and Bart sped back to the Tower to pick up Chloe.

They sped back to the roof, and Chloe reached into her laptop bag, pulling out 4 explosives and a copy of the blue-prints.

"Impulse, I need you to plant the bombs at the circled areas. Can you do that without being seen?"

"Am I ever seen?" he asked, before shortly disappearing

"Watchtower to Impulse, after you plant the bombs, meet us at the checkpoint." Chloe said into the earpiece

"You got it, Watchtower"

"Come on, let's go", Victor said, ushering Dinah and Chloe to the checkpoint.

When they arrived at the checkpoint, Chloe took out her laptop and set off an alarm that made every security guard run for their lives. Bart returned, and Chloe checked her laptop. It looked like everyone was gone, but she had to make sure.

"Watchtower to Aquaman, is everything clear?"

"Crystal clear, Watchtower."

"Aquaman, would you do the honors?" Chloe asked

And back at the Watchtower, AC grinned as he pressed the enter button, and the team in Seattle watched the warehouse explode. Afterwards, Bart transported everyone back to the Watchtower.

***

Dinah Lance was pissed off. "Why did you have to do that?" she asked Chloe angrily

"What? No 'hey guys, thanks for saving my ass'?" Bart asked her sarcastically

"I had everything under control by myself." Dinah told him sternly

"Being strapped in a room being Chinese water tortured does not classify as having everything under control. You could have called us for back-up." Chloe told her

"This was _my_ operation. I've been keeping an eye on these guys for weeks!" Dinah said, still furious

"Yeah, you've been keeping an eye on them. You developed a routine. We caught on, and chances are so did they." Chloe said, bitingly

"This was my thing. I can take care of myself."

"Not to echo Chloe, but you were strapped in a room. How could you possibly have taken care of yourself?" AC asked

"You're lucky Watchtower was keeping an eye on you. You could have blown your cover." Victor added

"Of course everything's about _her_. Obviously _someone_ has to hog the spotlight" Dinah huffed.

"Excuse me? I didn't ask for any spotlight. I'm just doing my job!" Chloe exclaimed

"You destroyed us all earlier, and you have a hidden agenda now. Nobody else knew about the explosives, did they?" Dinah asked

"Come on, it's routine. Blowing up the bad guys' building is what we do. She didn't have to say anything." Bart defended

"No, I didn't need to say anything." Chloe said

"Just like you didn't tell anyone that you were going to split Davis, right? So that we wouldn't be able to execute our plan?" Dinah, said, shoving Chloe

"Canary, you're way out of line." AC told her.

Chloe put up a hand. "It's okay. Obviously Dinah has a problem with me. Don't get involved." She told the rest of the team

"You're mad at me for running away, aren't you Dinah?" Chloe asked

"Yes, I'm mad at you. I'm mad at you for making me responsible for deaths. I'm mad at you for running away and making everything operation 'Save Chloe'!" Dinah exclaimed.

"If you want to hit me Dinah, I won't stop you." Chloe replied.

Dinah took this as a sense of permission, and slapped Chloe in the face. Chloe didn't move. The guys cringed, but didn't move. What were they supposed to do?

Dinah pushed Chloe down on the Watchtower floor "You deserve it. You killed Jimmy Olsen, not me." She said, kicking Chloe in the face, breaking her nose.

"Fight back!" Dinah said, kicking her repeatedly. There was blood coming out of Chloe's nose and tears in her eyes, but she didn't say a word.

"You want me to fight back?" Chloe asked

"Yes. Fight back." Dinah replied

Chloe suddenly kicked Dinah's feet from under her, bringing her down to her own level. "This is what you're looking for, isn't it, Dinah? You're looking for an even match." Chloe said

Both women got up, and circled each other. "It's what you've been looking for on the streets in Seattle, but the muggers are never strong enough" she said, as she deflected a punch from Canary.

Angry, Canary tried to punch her again, but Chloe was too quick. Suddenly, Dinah threw her against a wall, her hands clasping over Chloe's throat "You're…a…hero, Dinah…" she sputtered.

"You…don't…kill…" Chloe said, struggling to breathe. Chloe head butted Dinah, and Dinah released her grasp in shock.

Chloe suddenly kicked Dinah in the stomach, hard and Dinah fell to the floor.

"You've met your match. Heroes don't kill, and they don't fight members of their team. They stick together, and that's what we're going to do. We need to help Oliver. He attempted suicide almost a week ago, and we need to help him out of the rut he's in"

Chloe extended a hand. "Take my hand if you want to help a fellow teammate." Dinah contemplated the situation for a moment, and took Chloe's hand. She pulled up her friend, her ally.

"Victor, help her get cleaned up?" Victor nodded. Then, Chloe departed into the bathroom to clean her own wounds.

***

Chloe bandaged her face, and didn't worry about the rest of it. She knew that after a good night's sleep, her powers would heal her nose and the rest of her wounds. She typed out an e-mail to Roulette on her laptop, and just as she hit the send button, she heard a very quiet "Chloe?"

She looked up to see a very guilty Dinah in front of her "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay. It was mostly just the water-torture talking. I know it can cause a sense of insanity." Chloe told her

"But…I meant it, all of it. There's a little part of me that _does_ blame you for what happened." Dinah explained

"Dinah, there's a large part of me that blames myself for everything that happened. It's okay. I understand." Chloe said firmly

"I didn't mean to hurt you. Are you okay?" Dinah asked

"Yeah, I'll be fine. My powers will take care of everything" Chloe answered confidently.

"Victor told me about how you hadn't slept in five days. Why were you pushing yourself that hard?" Dinah asked

"I hacked into the video feed and saw Oliver attempt suicide. I guess working myself to death is my way of coping with that." Chloe replied

"Why are you doing all of this for us…for him?" Dinah wondered out loud.

And then it hit Chloe. Why she so willingly forgave Oliver for killing Lex, why she was so torn at the thought of losing him. It all pieced together, and it seemed so obvious now.

"I can't live without him." Chloe replied softly.

A/N: I hope you guys liked it. Please review!

-CS


	6. Oliver Queen

A/N: I do not own Smallville, its characters, or the main plot.

Chapter Five: Oliver Queen

It was the night before the big plan, and Victor, Bart, AC, and Chloe were asleep. Dinah however, was struggling. She was tossing and turning as flashback after flashback haunted her mind.

***Flashback***

_Dinah woke up, strapped to a rather uncomfortable chair. She looked around her, and it appeared as if the chair was hooked up to some sort of machine. _Great_, she thought. _I'm going to be electrocuted.

"_Rise and shine, princess", a cruel masculine voice drawled._

"_Mr. Chang", she acknowledged her kidnapper's presence. The Chinese man paced in front of her as his henchman stood near the door, looking pleased with himself._

"_Now, I'll make this pretty simple", Chang said. "Who are you working for?"_

"_I work alone." She said, strongly._

"_Well, that won't do, because you spoiled my plans for tonight, little girl. And I need answers."_

_His henchman chuckled as he watched his boss hit a button. Dinah winced with pain as the shock filled her body, but she didn't scream. She was tougher than that. _

"_I'll ask again. Who do you work for?" _

"_Come closer" Dinah told him. When Chang came closer, she spit in his face. Chang sputtered._

"_Insolent. You probably are telling the truth. Who would work with you? You probably have no family", he said, as he punched Dinah in the face._

"_No friends", he said, punching her in the stomach._

"_And no purpose", he finished, punching her in the face again. _

_In time, Chang left with only a "she doesn't leave" to his henchman. The henchman nodded as Dinah started to struggle in her seat. _

"_Give it up, girl. You're not leaving", the henchman told her. Dinah still struggled. _

***Flashback***

_Hours had passed, and her muscles grew tired of trying to escape. What was a sense of independence became helplessness, and later hope. Dinah felt for her wrists behind her chair until she felt the bracelet. _

_It was the silver bracelet that her father gave her as a little girl. Dinah realized a month ago that there was a tracking device on the inside of it. She was angry at the team for invading her privacy at the time, and would be later. But right now, she made sure that her wrist was still, hoping that somewhere in the world Oliver was tracking her down, and that she would be found. If anyone could find her, it would be him._

_Dinah's solitude in the cell created an obsession with Oliver. Every time the cuts stung, she thought of him and the day that he recruited her. She pushed herself to stay awake with the thought of him rescuing her. Dinah put together a picture of Oliver adorned in his green leather and composite bow, fighting every guard off. Oliver would see what Chang had done to her, and sometimes when the pain was too much to bear, Dinah pictured Oliver puncturing Chang's heart with an arrow._

_Eventually, Chang had returned. He had his henchman wheel in the Chinese Water torture device. Dinah didn't know what was happening at first- she had suspected rape when they strapped her down to the table. And then the drops came. Individual cold, seemingly innocent drops of water struck a cut on her forehead exactly as each minute passed. _

_Dinah was screaming in her head, but still wouldn't say a word. 270 drops later, Victor and Bart came in the room and rescued her. Dinah was completely silent, the only thought in her head being _"Where is Oliver?"

_And then she saw Chloe. Dinah saw the look of determination in her eyes when Bart planted the bombs and the look of triumph when AC blew up the warehouse. Oliver was nowhere to be found, but that look in Chloe's eyes was identical to his whenever he blew up a 33.1 facility. _

***Flashback***

"_I can't live without him", Chloe said softly. Shy about her confession, she went upstairs to join the boys. _

***End Flashback***

Dinah woke up with a start. She checked the clock and let out a groan. The clock read _1:45 AM_. She sat up, and looked around the room. Everyone was sleeping. Dinah glanced over at Chloe, who was sleeping peacefully.

Dinah carefully crept out of the room, and put her black wig on. She went downstairs slowly, as to not wake anyone up, and headed over to the room with all of the computers. Chloe had really outdone herself here- the room was surrounded with monitors and there were neat stacks of paper everywhere.

Dinah took a seat on the floor by one of the stacks and started reading. Each stack was a phase in the plan, and each paper had every single person's role. There were scripts for Roulette, scripts for Chloe to punch in the computer, action scripts for exactly how things should be installed, pictures, people that she hired.

What surprised Dinah the most however, was the section of the room filled with responses. There were sheets upon sheets of paper on the responses that Oliver was going to give Roulette. Everything was planned out, and Dinah could not believe how well Chloe knew Oliver. She had coordinated the entire plan so that it could not fail- there was no room for error. Chloe had calculated everything that he was going to say, down to the word.

Dinah looked around the room, asking herself "_How can I even _compete_ with this?"_ For a moment, she contemplated burning the response stacks- just those stacks and nothing else.

And then she realized that even if the physical evidence wasn't in front of her, she would know about it. And even if the evidence wasn't in front of Chloe, she would probably still remember everything that was written down. Dinah couldn't stop Chloe, no matter what she did: her persistence matched Oliver's. They fit.

***

"Watchtower is online"

"Impulse is online"

"Aquaman is online"

"Cyborg is online"

"Canary is online"

"Roulette is online"

"Alright guys, let's save the Green Arrow" Chloe said into her earpiece.

"Roulette, are you in position?" she asked

"I'm in position. He's drinking and gambling, just as we planned. I'm going to approach him." Roulette answered

"Okay, Roulette is drugging him and leading him to the coffin room. Impulse, I need you to get over there, and place the speakers in the Lex Luthor coffin. I put the voice program in there. I'll be able to type in the script when the time comes, and I'll be able to hear what Oliver's saying."

"Got it", Impulse replied, speeding away.

"Impulse, when you're finished, stop by the Tower and I'll give you the change of clothes. When Roulette brings him over and I give you the okay, change Oliver into the clothes, and stick him into the coffin next to Lex's."

Bart sped over to the Watchtower and picked up the change of clothes.

"Impulse to Watchtower, I'm waiting for the okay."

"Cyborg, I need you to get to the nearest telephone booth. I need you to make it appear able to make a call at first, and then forward it to the message that we created."

"On it", Victor responded.

"Roulette to Watchtower, the CEO is knocked out."

"How long will he stay that way?" Chloe asked

"3 hours. No more, no less."

"We can do three hours. Did you give him the temporary dragon tattoo?"

"Yes. I'm bringing him over to the coffin room."

"Watchtower to Impulse, Roulette is on the way. Get over there. Be careful with the clothes. I gave him a lock-pick so that he can escape."

"Okay." Bart replied. He sped over to the coffin room, and replaced Oliver's clothing.

"Happy Birthday, Oliver. Hopefully later, we'll be able to celebrate as a team", Bart said to his boss and friend, as he reluctantly put him in the coffin.

"Impulse, is he in?"

"Yeah, he's in."

"Canary, I need you to shatter the glass in the room, so that Oliver can escape."

"Done."

"Everyone, get back to the Tower as soon as possible. You can't be seen." Chloe told them.

They all got back to the Tower. "Good work guys." Phase one is complete.

***

Three hours later, Chloe switched on the camera to the building and watched the coffin, and Oliver picked the lock and escaped.

The team was crowded around Chloe's computers and watched Oliver.

"Yelling…now", Chloe muttered to nobody in particular.

"Cue the machine's laughing…Dinah, hand me that script?" she asked

"Got it", Canary said as she handed her the papers. Chloe muttered her thanks, and started typing the script wildly.

"AC, Bart, I need you to get over there right now, and get the car and truck in position." The men nodded, and were on their way.

"Victor, I'm going to have to ask for a favor." Chloe told him

"Name it"

"I'm going to have to ask you to be isolated from the rest of the group for a while. Just hear me out, okay? Tomorrow, Oliver's going to escape. He'll get out on his own, or Clark will help him out. The first place that they're going to go is here, and I'm going to have to help him piece my own puzzle together."

"Okay…" Victor nodded, and she went on.

"When that happens, none of you guys can be here. Oliver will know that something's going on if he sees even one of you guys. And they're going to be keeping me busy in trying to help them, so I won't be able to make sure that the last bits work out. I don't know how long it's going to take, or if I'm going to be involved at all."

"So you need me to make sure that everything happens." Victor said

"Yeah. I'm going to need you to hide behind the bookcase. It's incredibly roomy, and there's a desk in there with a laptop. The laptop is synchronized to these computers, so you'll be able to control everything that happens. And since you're all fully debriefed, you know exactly what needs to happen at exactly what time. And since I don't know if there are going to be any other interruptions, you're going to have to make yourself pretty comfortable in there as soon as Oliver wakes up." Chloe explained

"That's fine- I just want to be involved. Can't be any more involved than that now can I?" Victor asked, with a smile.

"Thank you for understanding. I'm not trying to isolate you; it just needs to be done." Chloe said, giving Victor an enormous hug.

"When you're there, I also need you to plug yourself into the laptop Oliver's going to wind up in a room where men will paint the picture of Roulette trying to steal his money. You need to give the image of all of his money being withdrawn, but only 30 seconds after Oliver puts in his password, so that the men leave. After that, he'll head over here."

"I'll be ready."

"Watchtower, Green Arrow's escaping into the car. We're hitting him with the truck." Impulse reported

"Good. Impulse, make sure that you rescue him just before the collision, and knock him out on the ground before he realizes that it's you." Chloe instructed

"Got it." Impulse replied

"Aquaman to Watchtower, I hit Arrow with the truck. He's been rescued and knocked unconscious. We're heading back."

***

Lois Lane was pissed off. She just visited the Clock Tower with Clark, and found a video-clip of his suicide attempt. And Clark didn't even bother to tell her! She went over the speed limit in order to get to the Talon- Lois needed to vent to Chloe, who was taking an opportunity to put away her dry-cleaning. She stomped up the stairs and opened the apartment door.

"Lois, what happened?" Chloe asked, concerned for her cousin

"Apparently, Oliver tried to kill himself." Lois explained

"Don't you like _Clark?_" Chloe asked, nervously.

"Yes, but that's not the point! The point is that Oliver didn't tell me, and neither did Clark. Clark was right there when it happened. I was literally at the barn last night with him, and he didn't say a thing!" Lois said angrily.

"Lois, you can't just tell someone that you're going to off yourself, you know. You can't expect Oliver to tell you that." Chloe told her

"No, but I thought that Ollie and I were closer than that. We're friends, Chloe. Friends don't keep friends in the dark like that." Lois said

"Well, you've been kind of busy lately."

"I haven't been that busy. Oliver should have found a way to tell me!"

"Well, maybe if you weren't so wrapped up in your own life, people would tell you these things!" Chloe exclaimed

"Where is this coming from?" Lois asked her

"It's the truth. You and Clark haven't given any thought about anyone else's life for months. It's always all about you- it makes me sick." Chloe said, disgusted.

"I have always been there, Chloe." Lois told her

"Oh really, Lois?"

"Yeah. I have always been there for you, no matter what." Lois said confidently

"Lois, where's Jimmy? Where's Davis, exactly? How did I even get away from him?" Chloe asked her, her body trembling.

"Uh…" Lois said, staring at the floor.

"Exactly. You have no idea. You can't answer any of these questions, because whenever I talk to you about _anything_, all I hear is 'Chloe, the Blur won't talk to me', and 'Clark's being a pain'. How can I possibly tell you _anything?_ You don't listen!!" Chloe screamed

"Chloe, what happened to you?" Lois asked

"Oh, now you want to know what's going on. You were missing for three weeks, and when you finally came back and I try to tell you, what was occupying your mind?" Chloe asked her

"My meeting with the Blur", Lois said feebly

"Exactly. The Blur- some guy that you've never met before. And me?" Chloe said, pointing to herself "I'm family, and I was panicking every single day. I thought that you were dead." Chloe told her

"Chloe…"

"And while I called the police every day, and rushed to the hospital the moment I heard that you were even _alive_, you leave to go meet the BLUR?"

"Chloe…"

"Well, here's a newsflash, Lois. The world does not revolve around you. My _life_ does not revolve around the issues of Lois Lane. So while you were meeting the Blur, I was grieving. Jimmy was murdered by Davis, and when Davis tried to kill me, Jimmy used whatever strength he had left to save me." Chloe was crying now, something she was trying to prevent for weeks.

Lois tried to comfort Chloe, but she wouldn't let her. "Don't touch me. It's a little late to comfort poor, innocent Chloe, isn't it? And it's not even that you weren't there- you knew that I was missing, and you didn't even try to help me."

"I asked the Blur to save you" Lois told her.

"But _you_ didn't do a thing. While Oliver- he looked all over the _world_ for me. And when Jimmy died, he came to the funeral. He felt responsible for Jimmy's death because he hired Jimmy to find me."

"I broke into Tess's office to try and find your location, Chloe."

"You tried, but Jimmy was already there. I didn't hear anything about you even leaving the Daily Planet building to look for me yourself."

"That doesn't explain why Oliver didn't tell me about his suicide attempt." Lois said

"You're not dating Oliver. He doesn't _have_ to tell you anything. He thinks that there's a bomb under that pressure plate, he has the choice to walk away from it. He doesn't need your approval." Chloe defended

"You knew?" Lois asked her

"Of course I knew. I'm fixing it." Chloe said, about to leave the apartment

"How? What are you going to do? You don't have a job at the Planet anymore." Lois told her

"I'm not going to do it with a story. I realized a long time ago that there are more important things in the world than writing a newspaper article. You don't need to know the details", Chloe said, grabbing her purse and coat.

"And don't try and follow me. You may be working at the Planet, and they may tell you how wonderful you are, but you're not that good." Chloe told her bitterly, walking out of the apartment.

***

Chloe went back to the Watchtower, as Victor quickly stuck his head out of the bookcase. "Chloe, I just fiddled with the computers to make Oliver appear broke."

"Good work. He's probably on his way here. Cover for me, okay?" Chloe asked, as she handed him specific instructions

"Okay" Victor said, heading behind the bookcase as quickly as possible.

Almost like clockwork, Clark and Oliver opened the doors to the Watchtower within 20 minutes. Chloe did a search on Roulette just for show, and Oliver got mad at her when she refused to give him his gear. She told Clark to stay behind, and gave him the information that she dug up on the Kandorian a day ago so that he wouldn't get in the way of the plan.

When Clark left the Watchtower, Victor came out of the bookcase "Chloe, we have a problem."

"What is it?" she asked, alert

"Lois got a little bit curious. She's over by Oliver's car right now."

"Watchtower to Roulette, my cousin's over by Arrow's car. She's trying to compromise the plan. Bring her over to the warehouse. You're going to have to fight her, but you can handle it."

"You got it Watchtower. This isn't part of the plan- how are we going to use her to our advantage?"

"This is one of the backup plans. Arrow's going to go over to the warehouse and try to kill you. Don't worry; the gun's loaded with blanks. The room that you're going to be in has activated flames. You'll try and light the entire warehouse on fire, and he'll try and save you."

"And if he doesn't? Do I burn alive in a noble effort?"

"He will. But if he doesn't you can deactivate the flames, and all of you can leave."

"Okay, I'll stop your cousin."

***

Chloe was drinking coffee and reading the Daily Planet at a local coffee shop, when suddenly a white chess-piece landed on the table. She glanced at it. It was a queen.

"Nicely played" Oliver said, as she looked at him guiltily. "I started asking myself who knew about Lex, about Toyman, the things I'd given up, what I tried to do. And it all occurred to me- Dinah shattered the glass by the warehouse, Bart rescued me from the car, Victor faked the computers, and Watchtower kept an eye on the whole thing" he said, sitting down at the table and smiling.

"Right?" he inquired. Chloe looked down slightly, and then looked in his eyes- it's time to tell him the truth.

"You were living like you had a death wish, Oliver. You had to face your demons if you were ever going to make it out alive and I had to push you over the ledge in order to pull you back." She explained

Oliver nodded. "Did you have to push with a three-ton truck?"

"I didn't think a tricycle would be a strong enough point" she said, leaning forward. "You're a fighter Oliver. You fought for yourself and a second chance." He smiled

"Chloe, I'm not the only one you put at risk."

She scoffed. "If you're worried about our little club, relax. Don't be- I played my cards close to my chest."

"And Lois- she was what? Just another ace up your sleeve?" He asked.

"No, I never meant for her to get involved. She was chasing after you when she accidentally ended up storming the field. That's when Victoria went off script."

"I could have killed her." Oliver told her

"No offense to your manhood, but I made sure that your gun was loaded with blanks just in case." Oliver smiled at her. Chloe always knew what to do.

"I trust you Oliver." She told him "just…not that much." She drank from her coffee, and Oliver stared at her.

Chloe reached inside her bag, and pulled out a check. "What is this?" Oliver asked

"Oliver, I'm sorry. I had to get the team back together, and they were all located in different areas. I had to power the Watchtower when you were missing. I needed to track down the team, and they all had different issues."

"Issues. Like what?" Oliver wondered

"Bart was in living in Central City as a car mechanic. Don't worry, he wasn't stealing anything. He was making a modest living, but in order to stay honest he stopped eating so much. He lost his powers, and when I found him, I needed to try and jump-start him. He needed a lot of food- $10000"

"It's okay. You did what you needed to do, and Bart has his powers back." Oliver told her

"And then AC, he became a hardcore activist, and got arrested. In order to save him, I needed to bail him out. That was $50,000" she said, miserably.

"That's fine. I would have done the same thing."

"And then Victor, he was reprogrammed by someone that he thought was a friend. He almost blew up the UN building, but we stopped him in time. He was a mess though, and I needed to give him an organ healing upgrade in order to help. And he needed to stay at a hotel. That was $230."

"I would have given him a 5 star hotel."

"And Dinah…she was kidnapped by the Chinese mafia and tortured. Dr. Hamilton took care of her, and she'll be okay. But when he sends that medical bill, I'm sure it'll be outrageous" she finished

"Chloe, it's okay. I would have done everything that you did." Oliver told her

"We borrowed your private jet a couple of times in order to go from place to place, but we tried to limit it. We only went twice, but I don't know the cost of that. And I got Bart to speed us from area to area when it was going to look suspicious. And chances are I'm going to need more money in order for the Watchtower to keep on running. I took out a loan. $100,000. It was almost impossible to get, but I was able to. I don't want to owe you anything, or for our friendship to be materialistic. I didn't mean to take advantage of your money, but I guess looking back at it, I did, and…"

"Chloe. Stop. It's okay. You did it to benefit the team- you didn't decide to randomly purchase a yacht or anything. It was for the good of mankind." Oliver said, taking the loan check and ripping it into a million pieces. He threw the pieces up in the air.

"I know that what you did was right. I have faith in you, Chloe. You didn't take advantage of me." He told her.

Oliver appreciated Chloe's honesty. Her confiding in him created a sense of truth in their relationship that had disappeared before. There was something he still needed to ask her.

"Did Clark know about this?"

She looked at him strangely, relieved that he wasn't mad, and bewildered that he could even think that Clark was involved.

"You can't be serious. Clark would never in a million years risk what needed to be done."

"Well, he's lead a different life than we have hasn't he? I can't expect him to know me like you do. The places that I'd sunk to, the depths that you must have had to go to bring me back- thank you." He said softly

"You proved it to yourself. Even with your face in the gutter, you still had the hero in your heart", she said with unwavering loyalty.

Chloe felt the warmth emanating from his hands as Oliver reached over the table. "You saved my life, Chloe. Both the myth and the man."

Chloe looked at him and saw a new Oliver Queen in front of her. Not the man that couldn't stop drinking or sleeping with random women, but a respectable man that humbly did whatever he could to make the world a better place.

***

When Chloe went back to the Watchtower, she stepped into the kitchen. She swept the shards of what was a broken coffee mug, and threw them in the garbage. She opened up a small box, and smiled at the new mug that took its place.

A/N: I know that a lot of you are probably mad at me for the Chloe/Lois fight, but I needed to fill the gap between Chloe needing to "drop a bomb" on her in the first episode, and Lois suddenly knowing what was going on in her life during "Warrior". I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and that you're enjoying the story. Please review!


	7. Brotherhood

A/N: I do not own Smallville, its characters, or the main plot. This chapter takes place around "Crossfire", in case you're looking for a plot timeline.

Chapter Six: Brotherhood

Oliver Queen was a confused man. He had spent the past month or two carelessly drinking his life away. He had questioned himself and his role in society as not only Oliver Queen, but the Green Arrow as well.

His life was filled with ups and downs. He hit a major down when his parents died, and he hit a major down when he was trapped on a deserted island. Right now, he was back to work as the acting CEO of Queen Industries, trying to fill out some paperwork.

Chloe just pulled him out of the gutter, and he was trying to make the most of it. He was shaving, showering, and showing up to work. His company was back in control these days, but Oliver didn't feel blissfully happy.

After his downward spiral, he felt as if he needed something to give his life a major up. In the process, he attempted to think of the last time his life had a major up.

He started to think about when he first donned the green leather- saving people always gave him an uplifting feeling. He became the Green Arrow to help people, and to keep his archery honed. At first though, it was an act of rebellion against his mentor.

***Flashback***

"_Are you ready for the final test?"_

"_Yes." Oliver said confidently_

"_First, a practical test." Vordigan said, blindfolding Oliver. "Shoot the target."_

_Oliver placed his arrow on the string of his bow. He pulled it back towards his cheek, and released it. The arrow hit the target, dead center._

"_Good." Oliver felt the cloth around his eyes loosen, and saw the underground dungeon around him once more. _

"_We are all human. This means that out of everything, we have one weakness- if struck, we can be killed. We battle this weakness by physical training and agility." Oliver nodded. "Fight us." _

_Suddenly, the men surrounding the room started to attack Oliver. Oliver focused on one man at a time. Kicking one out of the way, he proceeded to throw another down to the floor with one hand. _

_He back-flipped across the room, and grabbed a traditional looking arrow from his quiver. He shot eight arrows- two at a time for each man that started to approach him from the other side. They found themselves pinned to the wall. _

_When Oliver saw his own mentor heading towards him, He somersaulted behind him, and pushed him against the padded wall. Oliver quickly whipped out his cross-bow, and aimed it at Vordigan's neck. The men got up, and liberated those who were pinned to walls. They were ready to surround Oliver again. _

"_Enough" he said, and the men returned to their previous positions._

"_Well done. Next, a verbal test" Oliver let him go, and took a deep breath. "What are the three forbidden acts?"_

"_Acquiring a lover, befriending an ally, and passing on the gift to a disciple not approved by my mentor." Oliver answered_

"_What is the first sign of weakness?"_

"_Lack of agility and skill- leading to a near-death experience" Oliver said_

"_What happens to the archer if this event occurs?" _

_Oliver froze. He had never heard of this final rule. He wondered what the punishment would be if he wasn't fast enough on a single occasion. _

"_I don't know, sir."_

"_They are killed by their successor, Oliver. They find their successor, and challenge them."_

"_Is the kill necessary?" he asked, waiting for a punishment. Students never answered back, a lesson Oliver learned during his first week._

"_Necessary?" Vordigan laughed. "Of course it's necessary. It's tradition. Surely, you don't want to be killed by a stranger, Oliver? It's a shameful way to die."_

"_Yes, but I would not wish for a student to kill me. To kill is…a traumatizing act." Oliver explained_

"_There is honor in killing your mentor, to kill knowing that it was their last wish."_

"_It is murder" Oliver said bluntly._

"_To fully join us Oliver, you must agree to all of these terms." He was reminded._

_Oliver thought for a moment. "Then, I don't want to join you." He decided_

"_The time when you had a choice in the matter, Oliver, is long past. You must agree to the terms. You must join us."_

"_And if I refused?" Oliver asked_

_The Dark Archer snapped his fingers, and the men started to group together and surround Oliver once more. _

"_Then, we will have to take your life in order to protect the secret of our society. Survival will be impossible. You are threatening to reveal our secrets, our ways. It can't be tolerated. Is your naivety worth your life? "_

_In a split second, Oliver grabbed an arrow from his quiver and loaded it into his bow. "I refuse to join you." He said, using the time advantage to shoot one of the guards in the arm. _

_Oliver tried to run out of the dungeon, but there were too many guards blocking his way. He had to create his own path in order to escape. That's how life worked. _

_Sighing to himself, Oliver grabbed one guard, and stole his knife before sending him to the ground. After pocketing the knife, Oliver reached for three arrows and released them at the same time. He grabbed a gun from one of the guards, and a sword from another. _

_Oliver had been around the training center countless times, and knew the battles that lay ahead for him. He needed to be ready. Clearing a path was difficult, there were men everywhere ready to battle him, but he finally got outside. _

_It was night, and since all of the guards were dressed in black, it was hard to tell right off the bat when they were coming for him. The guards outside had swords, as predicted. He took out the sword that he had stolen, and started to fight. _

_Oliver used the sword to defend himself, not to kill. Although he disagreed with the some of the brotherhood's beliefs, he still agreed with the general sense- using archery in order to defend innocent people and to make a difference. _

_He physically couldn't kill anyone- not when he could look into their eyes and identify men that he had befriended during his training. These are men that worked with him and helped him grow. Oliver made a promise to himself that day, that he wouldn't kill, no matter what happened. _

_Oliver made it past the guards. Now, he had to activate the escape bridge. He lowered a lever by the gate, and threw the knife at a target in order to activate it. 30 seconds. That's all the bridge would be open for, and that's all he needed. _

_Sprinting to the other side, Oliver was able to make it over the bridge before anyone could follow him. He took out a gun, and shot at the closing target. Almost as quickly as it was available, the bridge closed up again. _

_Oliver took down his hood for a moment, and stared at the place he just escaped from. 6 months ago, when he was deep into his training, Oliver called it home. Not anymore. Oliver took out the necklace that he was given at the beginning of his training. It was a black leather cord with four pendants. Oliver ripped out the first pendant, tied it to an arrow, and shot it at the gate. The pendant was a small pewter heart. _"We don't need lovers, Oliver. They distract, and why bother when you have a strong sense of self-love, and love for the craft?"_ He heard Vordigan's voice in his head._

_He ripped out the second pendant, two vines tied together. _"Allies are only there to betray. We only consider our own brothers allies."_ The voice said. Oliver tied it to another arrow, and shot it beside the arrow on the gate. _

_Oliver tore the third pendant, a pewter apple with a bite missing _"Surely Oliver, you don't want to teach someone that isn't approved by your own brothers? It would be a waste if they learn the craft, and betray you."_ He tied it to another arrow, and shot it so that together, the formation of arrows would form a triangle. _

_Oliver looked at the fourth pendant. It was the Gaelic symbol for the Brotherhood. Oliver may have decided against fully joining them, but he would never forget where he came from. He put it in his pocket, and pulled out something else. _

_It was the letter that his mother wrote to him the day his parents died. When Oliver was stranded on a deserted island, he found the remains of crash. He took three things from the site that day: his parents' wedding rings, and his mother's letter. Oliver carefully unfolded the letter, and read it. _

Oliver,

There is something that I wish I had told you last night. Every decision we have made about you was done out of unconditional love. There is nothing more powerful than caring for someone more than yourself. Know that putting others ahead of yourself will bring you all the peace that you will ever need.

With all our love,

Mom and Dad

_That was when Oliver made the decision to return to Star City. To go back home, and honor the last wish of his parents. _

***End Flashback***

Oliver was still disappointed that he broke his promise to not kill. Maybe it made him just as bad as Vordigan. _When was the last time that I was truly happy?_, he asked himself. And then he made the relation: the last time that he was happy with his life was when he was with Lois Lane.

***

"I love you Oliver." Lois said. He smiled widely at her, hoping to finally return to a true sense of normalcy.

"As a dear friend" she finished. Oliver's smile fell, and he wrapped up the conversation and went back into the elevator.

As the elevator door closed, Oliver wondered why this rejection didn't hurt as much as it should have. He stared at his reflection in the elevator door, and wondered if maybe he was wrong. Maybe his happiest moments weren't with Lois after all.

Now that he thought about it, he wasn't truly happy with Lois. Not really. He left her high and dry on dinner dates constantly, and needed to shut her up with kisses in order to prevent her from snooping and finding out his secret.

If he was such a "dear friend", then why didn't she try and help him until it was already done? She worked at the Daily Planet- she saw the tabloids and saw Oliver at the fight club getting the life kicked out of him. She knew that something inside him snapped. She only went to him for the Green Arrow's protection though, and not to check on Oliver Queen.

When Lois did discover his secret, he was glad. He thought that they could start over, and trust each other. Lois had other plans. She was willing to keep his secret, but not willing to be with him. She finally had the opportunity to have an honest relationship with him, but declined it.

Now, she was in love with Clark, the little boy-scout that had more abilities and secrets than he could have imagined. And Lois was okay with his lies. Clark stood her up on the first date to save the world, and after the initial hurt, she didn't question him.

In the end, it wasn't about the secrets. It wasn't the lies or the random disappearances that mattered. It was just him. Lois was okay with going to parties and being Oliver's arm-candy, but she wasn't okay with his true personality.

He flat out told her that he hadn't stayed in one place since his parents died, and instead of telling him that this time it would be different- that they could get through it together, she ended it. Lois wasn't the love of his life, just an idea- the beautiful idea of having a relationship with someone where he didn't have to hide any secrets or flaunt his money. He would have to look for it in someone else- someone right.

The elevator door opened, and Oliver stepped out of it feeling like a liberated man. He remembered something that his father told him when he was a little kid: _An understanding of yourself is worth more than all the money in the world._ For the first time in years, Oliver Queen didn't feel alone- he felt his parents right beside him.

***

"Go, go, go" Oliver told Lois, as they ran up the stairs in order to escape the thugs.

There was nowhere for them to go, and they were being threatened with a gun. Oliver protected Lois, but could not believe that this was the end. He just figured out how to make things better for his life. Dying with Lois in his arms- it didn't feel right. This can't be it! He was not meant to die a weak death, he was meant to die in battle as the Green Arrow. This wasn't right.

_Someone's going to save us at the last minute- Chloe, Clark, someone_,he thought to himself. Almost like clockwork, Clark super-sped and took the bullets, which were instantly destroyed. There was one bullet that escaped, but Clark stopped it- right before it hit Oliver between the eyes.

Clark looked at the sight before him: Lois in Oliver's arms. Oliver wanted more than anything to explain to him, but Clark disappeared before he could say anything.

***

Oliver opened the door to the Clock tower. It had been a long day, and he wasn't even the Green Arrow for half of it. He opened the fridge for some old takeout, but found all the food gone.

"Sorry Boss, I got a little hungry as we were waiting", a voice said.

Oliver turned around to see Bart, Victor, AC, and Dinah in front of him. He smiled widely at the group "So Chloe did bring everyone back together."

"To bring you back, but we have to go back temporarily. Tie up some loose ends" Dinah told him.

"Tying up loose ends…haven't you guys learned anything? We can't do the big things by ourselves."

"This isn't big stuff." Dinah insisted

"The Chinese mafia is pretty big, Canary. You were kidnapped- there's no way I'm letting you guys go back. What did Chloe say when you told her all of this?" Oliver asked.

"We didn't tell Chloe. We didn't want her to worry or overreact." AC said

"And you thought that I wouldn't? We can't be alone- we just fixed everything. It's too risky." Oliver decided

"We can't always stay together. We have to spread out, do more good all over the country if not the world." Bart said

"You're not going anywhere permanently different without consulting me or Chloe first." Oliver told them

"Fine. No random relocations" Victor added

"Victor, why do you want to get away from here? You were nearly used by your friend! That can't happen again, buddy." Oliver said

"I almost blew up the UN building because I was vulnerable and someone was there to take advantage of me. We have each other emotionally- it's not going to be like last time." Victor reasoned

"Really? What makes this time any different?" Oliver asked the group

"Chloe bugged us all before. Maybe you didn't notice, maybe you did. What's your most prized possession, Ollie- something that you never go on a business trip without?" Bart asked him

"My dad's old belt- even if I don't wear it, I like to have it with me." Oliver said

"Then the device is probably on the back of the buckle or something." AC told him

"I saw that it was bugged weeks ago, but I thought that was Mercy." Oliver said to himself

"Don't be mad at her. I'm glad that she bugged us all. If she didn't, I would probably be dead. The tracking devices saved my life" Dinah told him

"I'm not mad. I'm…impressed- impressed that she knew about it." Oliver explained

"She knows you better than anyone. She went to me first, and I saw it. She had scripts on exactly what you would say, what you would do." Bart said

"Yeah, when you attempted suicide, she didn't sleep for 5 days. She almost died at the thought of losing you." Victor said.

"We needed to literally drug her coffee in order to get her to sleep." AC said

Oliver was silent, trying to take it all in. "What's going to make this time different?"

"The devices- we're keeping them on us at all times. We're keeping the headsets too- that way we'll be verbally in touch at all times." Bart told him

"We'll also stop by on a regular basis- if anything we'll touch base." Dinah added

"And we expect the same communication back. E-mail, call, whatever it is that you have to do. We want to stay in the loop. We're just going to be in different geographical areas. That's all." Victor told him

"The Watchtower is the home-base now. And speaking of, what about Chloe? What are you going to tell her when she realizes that you guys disappeared again?" Oliver inquired

"We'll leave her a note explaining everything before we go." Bart told him

"Okay. But I'm getting you all full-fledged apartments- cleaning service, food, everything." Bart's eyes lit up at the mention of food "Yes food, Bart. I'm not letting you lose your powers again."

"AC, no naked stuff- don't go landing yourself in jail again."

AC laughed "good times."

"Victor, I'm setting you up as one of Queen Industries' IT people. They're a good group, definitely won't program you."

"And Dinah, you're going back to newspapers. No more mafia activity for you- I have good connections at the Star City Gazette. All of you can continue the double life thing, but if there's something big going on, you _will_ tell Watchtower about it and you _will_ get backup. Understood?" he asked. They all nodded.

"Good" Oliver said, as he grabbed a remote and pushed a button. Suddenly, a wall opened up, and his Green Arrow gear was on display.

He belonged with these people now. _They _were his brotherhood now. Oliver grabbed his headset, wrapped it around his ear and said "Green Arrow, online"

***

Chloe walked in the Watchtower with a smile on her face. She dumped her coat and bag on a nearby table and after grabbing a cup of coffee, she walked over to the computers where a note sat on top of one of the keyboards. Chloe opened it, and read Bart's scrawled, fast handwriting.

_Dear Chloe,_

_ We came back and saved Oliver. You brought us all together again, and in doing so you saved us all. _

_ I will never forget how you helped me get my powers back, and I am proud to have been right by your side as we got the team back together. But now, it's time to temporarily part ways. Don't worry; it won't be like last time. _

_ We called Oliver and he reluctantly agreed to let us live separate lives. __**For Now.**__ We all promised to keep the tracking devices and headsets on at all times in case you ever need us and vice versa. _

_ Chloe, this isn't goodbye. We're going to make a habit to check in every now and then, and there will always be missions. Whatever Tess Mercer is up to, we'll get to the bottom of- as a team. Living arrangements have Oliver's touch (just like before), but now, we all have full hearts and a place to call __**home**__- the Watchtower. _

_ I'm heading back to Central City. Oliver relocated some of us to safer places- Dinah's going to Star City to work for the Gazette and Victor's working for Queen Industries as an IT guy. We're locatable, I promise. We're ready now- to fight the good fight and take on the world, thanks to you. Don't hesitate to call on us for anything, and always keep us in the loop. _

_ Always,_

_ Bart Allen_

_ Dinah Lance_

_ Arthur Curry_

_ Victor Stone_

_ P.S.: Take Care of yourself!_

Chloe wasn't mad, and she didn't feel abandoned. In fact, she felt more than ever a part of something good. She searched for a pen, and after finding a green sharpie, she put a bracket next to their names, and wrote _Justice_. Chloe laminated the page, and put it on a desk. Her hard work had changed lives after all. She turned on the computers and pressed a button.

The computer voiced "Impulse, online. Aquaman, online. Cyborg, online. Canary, online. Arrow, online." There they all were, just as promised. Able to be located, e-mailed, and called- she looked up at the screens and saw the pictures. There was her family.

She slipped in her own earpiece, and said with one teardrop rolling down her eye, "Watchtower, online."

***

A/N: Thank you guys so much for the support!


	8. Trust

A/N: Disclaimer- I do not own Smallville, its characters, or the main plot.

In case anyone is wondering, this chapter takes place during Pandora. I really hope you like it!

Chapter Seven: Trust

Chloe was furious with Clark Kent. It seemed to be a habit lately- all he did these days was speed to the Watchtower, get whatever information he needed, lecture her, and speed out.

She didn't mind it at first- Clark was just embracing his Kryptonian heritage, and it led to him finally being serious about his role as a hero. She was almost proud of him for accepting his destiny, and was honored to help however she could.

And then, she realized that he no longer confided in her with his worries. Clark, who used to spent hours moping around the Barn because Lana didn't like him. Clark, who constantly asked her for relationship advice because he was afraid Lana couldn't handle his secret. Clark, who was genuinely concerned about his destiny, and freaked out every time he was given a new power. She had been there for all of the silly things, but now when things were getting rough, he accused her of kidnapping her own cousin. Lois was the Blur's new confidant now- he called back, e-mailed, and was completely dependable.

Clark didn't know about the fight she had with Lois- Chloe was sure of it. Lois had no reaction to the fight: Lois wasn't concerned for her, didn't worry, didn't want to kick Clark's ass for not being there for her. In fact, it was almost as if the fight never existed. Chloe may have been mad at Lois for her lack of a reaction, but at the end of the day, she was family. Chloe would never kidnap her.

Regardless of her faltering relationship with her cousin, Chloe was concerned for her health. Post-traumatic stress disorder was no joke when your cousin spent weeks in the future, and Chloe wanted Lois' symptoms gone, so that they wouldn't kill her. She had no idea what the triggers were, and was determined to find out just what they were. She called Stuart Campbell.

"Hello?"

"Stuart, this is Chloe. Tess is trying to experiment on my cousin- Lois Lane. Do you know anything about it?"

"Yeah, apparently your cousin went to the future. For some unexplained reason, Tess wants to know what happened during her trip. She basically racked through her brain until she found the memories she needed. Tess is hooked up to the same machine Lois is in right now, trying to figure out what's going to happen."

"Okay, where are you guys right now?" Chloe asked him

"We're in some sort of lab. You have a pen?" When Chloe said yes, he gave her the address, and they hung up. Stuart seemed to be panicking where he was.

Chloe called Clark, but she didn't get an answer. Leaving a quick message, she hung up her phone and thought for a moment. This was family- Chloe could go to the lab herself and maybe get Stuart to put her in the memories so that she could find out what Lois went through. Or she could keep calling Clark, and hope that he would make the difference.

Chloe made the conclusion that whatever was going on, she couldn't do it by herself, and she couldn't rely on Clark for help. She already left a message, if he wanted to help; she wasn't going to stop him. Chloe reached for her phone. After the first ring, a voice replied "Hello?"

"Oliver, I need your help. I know where Lois is."

***

Within ten minutes, Oliver found Clark and Dr. Hamilton. They knocked out Tess, Stuart was safe, and Clark was in Lois' head.

"I'm sorry for dragging you away from work, Oliver. But I didn't know who else to call." Chloe told him

"No problem Chloe. I'm always here." He assured her

Chloe smiled, and turned to face Emil. "We should try and erase Tess' memories- while she's cooperative."

"Alright" Emil said, as he fiddled with the machines.

***In the future***

"I had the shot. I had to take it", Chloe told Oliver in a ruthless tone. He took the body of Tess Mercer outside, and buried her.

When they returned to their camp, the group bickered over the plan.

"We may have won the battle, but Zod will come back harder now", Chloe said, spreading out maps and blueprints.

"This time, we take a stand. Lois vanished a year ago when she put on the Legion ring", Clark explained.

"You time traveled here?" Chloe asked

"I'm pretty sure I didn't walk a whole year into the future. Not in these heels. The thing is I lost the ring. That one named wonder Zod took it" Lois told them.

"We need to get the ring back. Then Lois can return to the past, and prevent Zod's tower from being built in the first place." Clark decided

"That's not a bad plan Clark, but why should I trust you now? You already left us once to fight on your own." Chloe told him bitterly

"You abandoned us big guy, plain and simple" Oliver said, stepping forward.

"I thought I could stop Zod myself. I tried to take him on as my enemy, and I was wrong. But I'm here now." Clark tried

"Okay then look, why Clark decided to take on the enemy's ETs by himself is beyond me. And maybe you think that he abandoned the cause or something, but come on! Aren't we all in this together?" Lois questioned

"You guys shut down that tower and bring back the yellow sun, you know I'm your best chance at getting back that ring." Clark said

"Maybe. I still don't trust you." Chloe told him

"I guess that's a start" Lois said.

After they created a plan, Clark and Lois went to the Barn, while Chloe and Oliver decided to stay behind and motivate their followers. Chloe offered them some hope, and walked to her room. She closed the door, a sign that nobody should follow her. Chloe took off her belt, and dumped her bow and other weapons on a table. She took off her bandana and hat, and walked over to the mirror.

Chloe stared at herself for a moment, and wondered how she became this way. A leader and a killer- ruthless and cold. She turned her back to the mirror, and curled up on her bed. Tears were flowing freely down her eyes, and she didn't care.

Oliver opened the door to the room quietly, and closed it behind him. He sat next to her on the bed, and silently held her in his arms as she cried.

"I'm so sorry, Oliver. I know how much Tess meant to you. It was for the cause." She said, sobbing

"I know." He said, holding her "I know."

"We've killed so many Kandorians, and now humans? Ollie, when does it stop? I keep washing my hands, but the blood is always there, no matter what I do."

"You did what you had to do. She was Zod's right hand man. I wouldn't have been able to kill her. It was the right thing to do."

"Please make it stop" she repeated over and over, her voice no higher than a whisper.

"I will." He promised her "I love you" he said, kissing her forehead.

They lay there for a moment. In time, Chloe broke the silence.

"Oliver, I need you to promise me something" Chloe said, looking up at him.

"Okay."

"If I die tomorrow, make sure that Lois goes back to her own time. If I die tomorrow, lead them." She tilted her head toward the door.

"You are not going to die tomorrow", Oliver said fiercely

"I almost died today in the mansion. There was a struggle, and you struck the Kandorian that was trying to kill me. I started this resistance group- they're after me. And you're faster than me. Stronger. You can take over."

"I'll help you. I'll stop them, just like today." Oliver said stubbornly

"I'm not fast enough. And you have enough on your plate when we fight them. The Kandorians- they're all looking for me." She explained

"You're not going to die. I can't do this without you. I _won't_" Oliver told her, holding on to her tighter than before.

"You have to." She said simply

"Okay. _If_ you die, I promise that I'll take over the group and get Lois back to her own time. But you are not going to die _tomorrow._ Not when it's almost over." He insisted.

***

"Come on Chloe, you can make it!!" Lois exclaimed as Chloe looked up to see a Kandorian flying towards her as she ran as fast as she could.

Chloe stopped in her track the moment that she was face to face with the Kandorian. She looked around, for Oliver. He was too far ahead.

The woman whipped out her sword, as Chloe reached behind her back for her daggers.

She was too slow- all she could feel was pain. The sword went right through her body, and Chloe felt completely paralyzed. She couldn't reach for her daggers in an attempt to strike back- she couldn't move.

Her eyes widened as she comprehended the pain- this was it. She had come close to death so many times that it was almost surreal that it was happening. They knew exactly where to find her, and it was too late to fight back.

Right now, she could only feel. Chloe was so blocked out before, that the pain penetrated through her emotional barriers, replacing every wall with pain.

"No!!" She heard Lois scream. _Please don't come here Lois. Don't let them see you_, she thought desperately. The Kandorian slowly pulled out the sword, the pain building on itself.

Chloe could feel her pulse slow, and let out a gasp, as she fell down to her knees. Letting out a deep breath, she fell to the floor.

Chloe knew that it wasn't over yet. Kandorians had an unusual way of killing- they ripped your body to pieces so that it was unrecognizable. The pain would continue, and the unique identity of Chloe Sullivan would be destroyed well after she died.

"Get the hell away from her!" She heard Oliver shout out. The Kandorian sped off as she saw Oliver, bow and arrow at the ready.

Lois came running towards her, and rolled her over, stroking her hair.

"Chloe, look at me. You're going to be fine. You're going to be okay." She assured her.

Although Lois was close to her, it was Oliver that Chloe saw. He was wearing a fierce expression, surrounded by a vision of white. He had never looked so beautiful. Chloe looked at him and felt completely safe. She let out her last breath; Oliver's face the last image in her mind.

Oliver wanted to cry, wanted to scream out loud, and kill every single goddamn Kandorian. He wanted to grow wings and chase down the alien bitch that killed Chloe. He was disappointed in himself- disappointed that he couldn't tell Chloe that he loved her one last time. He couldn't with Lois there- he couldn't change her perspective of the past.

Oliver wanted to tell Chloe that he loved her, but the only thing he could physically do was drive away the Kandorian. He needed to see her- needed to preserve the memory of the woman that won his heart and gave her life to help change the world.

Right now, the only thing that he could do was honor Chloe's last wish. He put a gloved hand to Lois' shoulder.

"The best way to avenge her death is to get that ring." he said

Lois shook her head "No. No, I won't leave her."

"She's still alive in the past Lois. You can save her. Make sure this future never happens, and you'll save all of us." Oliver told her. Lois nodded, kissed her cousin's forehead, and left.

_Oh god, please have Lois survive this. Please prevent this future from happening. Chloe is the most beautiful part of this world. I can't survive without her_, Oliver thought desperately.

Oliver pulled back the arrow, and felt the tension of the string on his bow as Kandorian after Kandorian filled the sky. He fearlessly stared at the sky.

_I have nothing left to lose now_, he thought to himself. _There is nothing more that they can take from me._ He thought of Chloe, of her laughter and smile.

Suddenly, the tension in his bow lifted, and it felt as if Chloe was right beside him, holding the Kryptonite arrow in his fingers. Oliver Queen smiled, and released the arrow, letting it soar.

***Present Day***

Clark sped away from the Watchtower, blindly hopeful for the future. After learning about his own death, he decided to befriend Zod and try to teach the Kandorians about life on Earth. It was a ludicrous idea, but it was very…Clark. He sped off, leaving Oliver and Chloe in the Watchtower alone.

"Great. Another hopeful idea that's going to end up going horribly wrong" Chloe said, under her breath.

"We can't let this happen, Chloe. We can't let Clark run away with his ideas this time." Oliver told her

"Trust me, I've learned my lesson. My days of following Clark blindly are over." Chloe assured him

"What do you think happens to the League? I mean- from what Clark says, we start a resistance team, but the League members are nowhere to be found." Oliver wonders

"I don't know. I'd like to think that they didn't abandon the cause." Chloe says

"I know that they wouldn't. Not after everything." Oliver told her

"So either the Kandorians literally took over the world and they had their arms full somewhere else or…" Chloe trailed off

"Or they were with us at first, and they died." Oliver finished

"You never should have let them go off on their own." Chloe said, with a tone of finality.

"We're meant for bigger things Chloe. We're meant to impact the whole world, not just Kansas. I couldn't just cage them." Oliver told her

"I know." she sighed "I'm sorry. I've just gotten used to bouncing ideas off of everybody that I'm having a bit of trouble adjusting to it just being me again" Chloe said. She was shocked at her own openness with him. Her cheeks turned pink, and she tried to distract herself by typing on her computer.

"I'm here, Chloe. It impacts me too."

"We just…we just need to do something different." Chloe said, letting the seriousness return again.

"Well, apparently a resistance group doesn't work." Oliver thought aloud

"Sure it did. Just not well enough. It lasted us a year, didn't it?"

"The idea of Kryptonite weapons was good. We can use that." Oliver said

"Kryptonite bullets, maybe?"

"They'll get lost too quickly. Besides, I don't think that they'll be big enough to make a difference." Oliver said

"I think the arrows and daggers were good. They seemed to work pretty efficiently." Chloe said, getting right down to business

"Yeah. Daggers satisfy hand to hand combat, arrows satisfy long distance." Oliver agreed

"Yeah, but how are we going to create them?" Chloe asked

"I think I can make it happen." Oliver told her confidently

"That's right- you probably can, can't you?" she said with a smile.

***


	9. Healing

A/N: Here's the next chapter! It takes place around the episode "Disciple".

Chapter Eight: Healing

Oliver walked over to Lois' hospital room, and saw Clark there. Immediately, he felt guilty for being there. He was more than fine with Clark dating her, but thought that it would be awkward if he stormed in there asking questions about her attack. Ex-girlfriend, new boyfriend, ex-boyfriend- the three of them never really chatted together, and Oliver didn't really want to cause any problems.

He walked away from the room, and saw Chloe. "Hey, you okay? You don't look so great, which for you is not exactly easy." She said

"I didn't realize Lois already had a visitor." He explained

"Come on, Ollie. It's been years since you and Lois steamed up any elevator glass." Chloe reminded him.

"I know. I know. You have a suspect?" Realizing that it was an awkward topic, both parties immediately changed the subject to Lois' attacker.

Oliver took a look at the x-ray. It was a very distinct shot- only members of the brotherhood were able to make it. He studied the picture on Chloe's cell phone, and his suspicions were confirmed- the arrow was one and the same. Without a parting word to Chloe, he walked out of the hospital and went back to the Clock Tower.

Oliver pulled up every security camera and Queen Industries picture of him over the past two days. He knew before that he was being followed, but didn't pay it much concern until now. He was used to the paparazzi stalking him, but this was different.

He was sure that a Brotherhood member was attempting to kill him, and that it was probably Vordigan. He was the only one that was good enough to make that shot from the distance, the only one that truly had a bone to pick after all this time.

Oliver printed out every picture, and carefully posted them up on a wall. He studied them: he looked for a distinct shadow, a figure, something that he could work with. There was nothing, meaning that they were either following him around when he is the Green Arrow, or Oliver was just going insane.

"You are not going crazy" he said out loud, if only to convince himself.

***

Clark had just sped off to help Oliver deal with the Dark Archer, and Chloe was determined to stay busy. Staying busy prevented boredom. Boredom led to thinking, which led to feeling. Feeling usually led to Chloe being a mess.

Usually, Chloe would try and figure out the plan that would prevent the sun from turning red, but that would involve Oliver's input, and he was busy. Chloe glanced at the laminated letter on her desk. She should tell the team what was going on.

Without a second thought, Chloe called AC. The phone rang and rang, but the fish-lover wouldn't pick up. He never set up his voicemail.

Chloe scrolled down the list and called Bart. On the third ring, he picked up "Yeah?"

"Bart, I need you to get over here. Clark went into Lois' memories, and it's just as we expected- she went to the future. It's a mess. Can you get here? We need to make a plan." She said quickly

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Bart called out to someone. There was a whoosh and someone was pushed to the floor "Chloe, I'm kind of busy at the moment. Is everyone else there?" he asked

"No, AC's not picking up."

"Well, if you can rally up the rest of the team, call me back and I'll get over there in a half hour, okay? I've got to go." He said, hanging up.

Chloe called Dinah. "Hello?" she whispered

"Dinah, I need you to get over here. Long story short, Kandorians are going to take over the world, and we need to stop it."

"Chloe, I'm chasing down a scoop for the Gazette. I'm sorry- I can't right now." Dinah whispered

"The world is going to end Dinah- in a less than a year from now. We're all going to die." Chloe explained

"Found it" she heard Dinah say to herself. "Chloe, I know it's disastrous, but can't someone fill me in later? I've got to go." Dinah hung up on Chloe.

Chloe called Victor. His voicemail picked up, and Chloe left a message "Hey Victor, its Chloe. Clark went in Lois' head and saw that we're all going to die very tragic deaths in the next year. Call me back!"

She pressed the "end" button, and waited. Chloe tapped her feet impatiently on the floor, trying to ignore the thoughts that were flooding her mind.

One after the other, they swarmed her. _"Oliver's still in love with Lois" "The League doesn't care anymore" "You weren't fast enough in the future" "You die tragically" "You don't matter" "Oliver dies" "Even the impenetrable Clark Kent is killed" "You kill Tess Mercer" "Murderer". _Chloe had enough- she put on her exercise clothes and a pair of sneakers, and disappeared behind the bookcase.

Chloe turned on the treadmill that she had recently purchased. She put it on the fastest speed, and started to run.

The treadmill hummed rhythmically with every step she made. _"You weren't fast enough"_ she kept running, even though she was already exhausted. _"Oliver's still in love with Lois"_ she became more determined to stay on the treadmill. _"You die tragically."_ She started sweating, and her legs felt as if they were going to give out. _"The League doesn't care anymore"_ she bit her lip, and kept pushing. _"You don't matter"_ she started sweating, her throat feeling dry. _"Oliver dies"_ she kept going as she failed to blink a tear away. _"You kill Tess Mercer. Murderer."_ She kept running.

***

Clark sped over to Oliver's location in the maze, and put himself in the direction of Vordigan's arrows in order to save Oliver's life. Oliver shot an arrow in Vordigan's direction, but Clark couldn't get there in time. Clark saw Vordigan fall to the ground.

"You know, he always said that eventually my dark side would rise up and that I would take his life." Oliver told Clark.

Oliver walked over to the body, and prodded it. "You were wrong" he told Vordigan.

He showed Clark the arrow. "I shot him in the shoulder, exactly where he taught me" he said

4 hours later, the police took Vordigan away with the attempted murder charges. Oliver hid in the maze as everything happened, and went back to the Clock tower when it was over. Mia was safe, but Clark insisted that she go to the hospital just in case.

Oliver changed out of his Green Arrow uniform, and stared at his equipment as he put it away. He really did change- he proved it to himself once and for all. Oliver wasn't as bad as Vordigan. He was a hero after all. Oliver headed to the Watchtower to thank the one person that believed in him the entire time- Chloe.

***

Oliver opened the door to the Watchtower, and called out "Chloe, you there?" He heard no reply. It was odd- Chloe had spent almost every waking moment at the Watchtower these days.

He shrugged it off quickly enough. If Chloe was getting out of the Watchtower to relax and have some fun, that was great. He would have to call her instead, to tell her the good news.

Oliver reached for his phone and dialed Chloe's number. He heard it ringing in the distance. He hung up when he followed the noise to her empty desk.

Panicking now, Oliver looked around the Watchtower. It didn't seem to be in a sense of disarray- it was neat and organized as usual. The computers were on, and Oliver looked at one monitor. Chloe's tracking device indicated that she was in the Tower right now.

Oliver breathed a sigh of relief- she wasn't kidnapped. She was probably just sleeping or something. He turned to leave, when he heard a rhythmic beating noise.

Thinking that there was a bomb in the Watchtower somewhere, Oliver followed the noise. It seemed to be coming from behind a bookcase. _How is that possible?_ He asked himself. Oliver saw that one of the books was slightly out of place, so he took it out. On the shelf, there was a flat silver button. Oliver pressed it, and the door opened.

***

Oliver walked into the room, and saw Chloe on the treadmill. He was impressed with how fast she was running. "Sorry for interrupting" he called out. She didn't reply. He walked over to the treadmill.

Something wasn't right here. This felt just like the day that Chloe hacked into a piece of alien machinery and her eyes turned white. He walked in front of the treadmill. Chloe's eyes were closed, and she was sweating profusely. "Chloe?"

He walked to her side, where she was running. She still didn't acknowledge his presence. She kept going. He tapped her arm, and in shock, she stopped running.

The treadmill was going so fast, that Oliver had to sprint over to the back of the treadmill in order to catch Chloe when she fell off of it. It turned off instantaneously, and Oliver looked her over.

Chloe's muscles were tense, and she was drenched with sweat. Her short hair was wet, and she was breathing heavily. He handed her a nearby water bottle, which she accepted. As she drank from the bottle, he untied her shoes and slipped them off of her feet.

His eyes widened when he saw the blood on her socks. He gently took off her socks and saw her feet.

Chloe's feet had blisters and her heels were cut. "Why did you do this to yourself?" he asked quietly

"I just wanted to be faster." She said, getting up. She grabbed her shoes, socks, and water bottle, and walked out of the room. Oliver followed her.

"Why?"

"Don't worry about me Oliver, I'll be fine." She told him, giving him a smile.

"That's not going to work, Chloe. What happened?" Oliver asked her

"Nothing." She answered, sitting down again at her desk. She started typing on the keyboard.

"Chloe…"

"You caught me in a moment of weakness. I don't want to talk about it. It never happened." She said with a tone of finality.

"No, Chloe. That was something. You were feeling something, and I'm not going to ignore it." Oliver told her

Chloe brushed him off and started typing again. Oliver walked next to her, and grabbed her hands. He kneeled down, and held them in his. "What happened to you, Chloe?"

She tried to pull her hands away, but it was no use- he was stronger than her. She tried to avoid eye contact with him. "It's 1 in the morning" she realized. "What are you doing here, anyway?" she asked

"I came in here to tell you that everything ended up okay. The Dark Archer's in jail, Mia's fine, Clark's okay. Obviously, you're not though, so we should probably focus on that." He explained

"I'm fine. What, I can't work out once in a while?" she asked him

"Chloe, I walk in here and find you running with your eyes closed and your feet bleeding. There are limits."

"Gee, thanks Boss." She said, rolling her eyes

"What's going on here, Chloe? You just want to be faster- why do you want to be faster. Faster than what?"

"Faster in the future- that's how I die. I'm running, and there's a Kandorian that's flying ahead of me. If I just ran a little farther, she wouldn't have seen me. She wouldn't have killed me- I can't _afford_ to have limits." She explained

"That's not all, is it? There's something else." Oliver said. She looked away from him.

"Damn it, Chloe. Talk to me!" He exclaimed

"I can't." she told him helplessly, fully expecting him to leave now. Instead, Oliver pulled her into a nearby couch, and they sat. He took her hands in his once more.

"It's okay to feel." He said softly. "You can talk to me."

There was a long silence, but Oliver didn't leave.

"I'm angry." Chloe said, finally breaking the silence. "I'm angry at everyone." She told him.

"Who are you angry with?" he asked

"Everyone. I'm angry at Clark for abandoning me. We've been friends since the eighth grade, and he doesn't even talk to me anymore." She said bitterly

"I think we're all a little mad at Clark right now." He said

"It's different. I can't even hurt him. He doesn't stick around long enough for me to yell at him, and punching is useless." She explained

"You know his weakness- you don't want to kill him, do you?" Oliver inquired

She shook her head "I can't stand to see him in pain. I've seen it hundreds of times- the invincible Clark Kent writhing in pain, completely powerless. I can't even picture it."

"Are you mad at him for anything else?"

"It's just that we've always figured things out together. I've always had a vote, and now he's not even asking me for my input. I've virtually become a search engine. It feels like Brainiac all over again."

"What happened when Brainiac took over, anyway?" Oliver usually stayed out of Clark's alien problems, but he was listening now.

"I was starting to lose my memory. I felt lost. Whenever I forgot about something, there was a flash of Kryptonian symbols and then it was blank. I forgot about Jimmy and Lana. And in time, I forgot about Clark."

"Did you forget about just Clark's abilities, or did you forget that he was even in your life?"

"I didn't even recognize him after awhile. Davis though- Davis I remembered" she said bitterly.

"What happened?"

"Davis took me to the Talon, and knocked me out when I became hysterical. Clark took me to the Fortress, and had his father restore my memories. Except for the ones containing his secret." She told him

"Clark made you forget about his abilities? He had no right to force you to forget." He said angrily.

"It's ancient history, Oliver. My memory was fully restored later. It's okay."

"Who else are you angry with?" he asked, seeing this as indication to move on.

"I'm mad at Lois." She said nervously. She was afraid that Oliver would defend her, but he just looked at her.

"I yelled at her the other day, and I just…snapped."

"Well, what was the trigger?"

"Clark and Lois were looking for you during the Roulette mission. She got into your computer and saw the video feed of your suicide attempt, and saw Clark there. Since she was mad at Clark for not telling her, she went to the Talon to vent to me."

"What did she say?"

"She was personally offended that you didn't tell her. I told her that she couldn't expect her to just walk up to her and say, 'Oh, by the way Lois, I tried to kill myself the other day. Nice seeing you!' She insisted that she should have known and I called her selfish."

"She has been kind of self-absorbed lately- her and Clark both." Oliver agreed

"She told me that she had always been there for me, regardless of her busy schedule, and I snapped." She explained

"Well, what did you tell her?"

"Don't worry- I didn't tell her any secrets. I told her that while she was concentrating on The Blur, I was grieving because Jimmy died. She didn't even know that Jimmy was dead until then and I felt like ripping her apart."

"If she didn't know that Jimmy died until recently, then you have a good reason to be mad at her. Has she been better? Less selfish, I mean?"

"No. She acts as if it never happened, and it makes me guiltier. I've been avoiding her- camping out right here."

"You don't have to do that- you can stay at the Clock Tower. There's plenty of room there."

"Its okay- it's almost like a punishment, you know? A punishment that I have to see through."

"You don't have to punish yourself."

"I'm mad at myself. I'm mad that I married him because he was normal. I just wanted a normal relationship with someone that actually cared about me back. I'm mad that I die in the future because I'm not strong enough. I'm mad that I become a killer." She told him angrily.

"It's okay" Oliver said, rubbing her back with one hand.

"Don't be nice to me, Oliver. I don't deserve it." She said, sitting farther away from him.

"There's nothing wrong with what you're feeling", he said gently.

"I'm angry with you too. And you being nice to me right now- I can't take it." She was starting to cry

"Why are you angry with me?" he asked

"You left me too, without even a word. Completely off the grid for a week. I couldn't find you, and Lois disappeared. And when you tried to _kill _yourself, I…" she trailed off

"Chloe, I'm so sorry." He told her

"I was so helpless watching the video-feed. The thought of losing you- I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. And I _hate _you for it." she said, sobbing.

"Chloe, I"

"-_Why_ did you try to kill yourself? Every day, I try to wrap my head around it, but I just _can't_ understand."

Oliver pulled her in for a hug. "I can't lose you Ollie. I don't think I can make it. Not you." She said, her voice muffled in his sweater

"Chloe, I swear to you- I'm never going to attempt suicide again." She nodded silently, and they sat there in each other's arms.

***

"I trust you." She said suddenly. "I must be an idiot for trusting anyone again, and I don't trust Clark anymore, but I trust you."

"I trust you too, Chloe. You saved me, when nobody else would."

She looked at the clock "It's 5 in the morning. Aren't you tired?" she asked

"Not really. I have to get up at 6 anyway. At this point, sleeping is useless."

"I'm sorry I kept you up all night." She said guiltily

"It's a two-way street. I kept you up all night too."

"Want some coffee?" she asked, getting up

"You know, I'm surprised that you lasted this long without it", he said, following her into the kitchen. She started a pot and got out two mugs. She poured coffee into the mugs, and reached for the sugar, while Oliver searched the fridge for milk. He poured a little milk in both mugs and put it away as Chloe added some sugar and stirred.

"Can you promise me something?" Oliver asked her, after taking a sip.

"Sure"

"Can you promise me that instead of running until your feet bleed, you'll talk to me instead?"

"I won't be able to talk to you the time. You'll get bored of me", she joked

"Now, that's impossible."

"Well, what if you don't pick up when I call?" she asked, thinking of her conversations with the League members.

"Then you can leave a message and the instant that I'm available, I'll return the call. I basically depend on my phone for survival. 20 minute guarantee- unless I'm being held hostage, of course. But you'd still be able to find me."

"Yeah, about that…I'm sorry. I kind of lost it. I know that it invaded everyone's privacy, but I was concerned."

"No apologies needed. The guys told me about the tracking devices. I understand."

"I'm sorry about that. I just wanted to make sure that you guys were safe."

"Actually, I think that it's a good idea. Dinah told me about how it saved her life, and I think that for me, you chose the wrong item."

"What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I carry the belt with me, but on business trips, not everywhere. He reached in his sweater, and pulled out his necklace. He took it off, and showed it to her.

"I had Emil put a very discreet tracking device on the clasp. I would put it on the ring, but it means too much to me." He explained

She looked at the inside of the golden ring. "The Queen crest- this isn't…?"

"Yeah it is. It's my father's wedding ring."

"But they died years ago, how did you get this?" she asked him

"Remember when I told you about the island that I was stranded on?" she nodded

"Before I left, I found the crash-site. The plane was destroyed, but the Queen Industries label was on it. I found my parents' wedding rings and a letter that my mom wrote to me just before she died."

"And you kept them all this time?"

"I framed the letter. It's with the ring, in a safe at Queen Manor. I keep my dad's with me, to remember."

"Ollie, that's amazing."

"I've never told anyone that before", he said, looking down at his shoes.

"I've told you a lot of things that I've never told anyone." She reminded him

"Well, at least we're honest with each other." He said

Chloe unclasped the necklace, and placed it around Oliver's neck. "Let's be honest all the time, then", she said, clasping the necklace and stepping back.

"I think that's a deal. I'm tired of hiding from people all the time"

"Me too" she agreed.

Chloe glanced at the clock- 6:15. "I can't believe you're still here." She said softly

"I'll always be right here, Chloe." He glanced at the clock. "Right now though, in the metaphorical sense. I do have to get going, but only because I have a 7:30 meeting."

She laughed "Go."

***


	10. Clarity

A/N: Here's the next chapter. I'm sorry for not updating- Conspiracy kind of messed up some ideas I had for this chapter, so I needed to write _that_ chapter before I could write this one. This chapter takes place during the Absolute Justice episodes (technically, movie).

Chapter Nine: Clarity

"This is Clark. Please leave a message and I'll get back to you soon as I can." Chloe rolled her eyes at the message. It was getting very old very fast.

"Clark, this is Chloe with message one too many." She began, walking out of the café with coffee in hand.

"Look, I know that trying to lead a group of Kryptonians putting a new lease on life is putting a lot of weight on your shoulders, and I don't want to add to that, but I'm still trying to set up an official meeting with our super-gang."

Chloe was still concerned with the League's absence in Lois' memories of the future. Something was going to go wrong, and it didn't help that they weren't calling her back.

"Clark, we're playing too fast and loose. We need to start taking this more seriously."

Before she could say any more, she heard static. She gave her phone a glance, and looked up as she saw power outages in the buildings around her. She turned around and saw a man coming out of the shadows. There was a flash of light, and Chloe started to run.

"Who are you?" she asked the man, after realizing that the light was coming from his staff. He appeared to be draped in the American flag.

"My name is Sylvester Pemberton. You and I share something in common- we're both trying to put a team together."

"I don't know what you're talking about" she defended.

"You're the one they call Watchtower?"

"Watchtower?" she repeated, stepping forward

"Technology today makes hiding a whole lot harder, Miss Sullivan. When someone like you reaches out and plugs into so many outlets, someone else is bound to pull out one of those cords and follow it back to its source. You're lucky a friend did it first." The man explained

"Friends? Friends don't sneak up on each other in a dark alley." She said, suspicious of him.

Suddenly, the temperature dropped and Chloe let out a shivering breath. "Is it just me, or did it just get really cold really fast?" She asked him, suddenly abandoning the idea that he is an enemy.

He looked around, and the next thing Chloe knew, she was being thrown in a dumpster like a bag of trash. She dropped her coffee in surprise. "Hey!" she exclaimed

"Stay down, Miss Sullivan" he told her, closing the lid of the dumpster. She looked through the holes in the dumpster, and saw flashes of light.

The dumpster shook, and Chloe turned her head to see an icicle puncture the dumpster. She attempted to get herself upright, and moved to see what was going on outside. There was a loud noise, and Chloe shielded herself from view, so that she wouldn't be next.

The trauma disappeared almost as quickly as it came. The dumpster suddenly stopped moving, temperature regulated, and the flashes of light stopped.

Chloe opened the dumpster a crack to make sure that it was safe to come out. It was surrounded by ice. Jumping out of the container, she made her way over to the fallen hero. There was blood everywhere, and the man was shaking.

"Help!! Somebody help!!" She cried out. There was no reply.

"They'll come after us. They'll come after all of you." The man said wildly, grabbing her arm.

She looked at him, terrified. "Check-" he said, struggling.

"Check what? Check what?" she asked him, desperately.

He let out his final breath. "Who are you?" she asked him, shaking his body. "Who's coming?"

She reached for her phone and called 911. She stayed with him and waited for the ambulance to arrive. She called Clark again "This is Clark. Please leave a message and I'll get back to you soon as I can." She didn't even bother leaving a message this time. She hung up as the ambulance arrived and hurried her inside. Right now, she was alone.

"Do you know his name?" a man asked her

"I just met him. He said his name was Sylvester Pemberton. Is he going to be alright?" she asked

"We don't know. We're going to get you two to Met Gen" he said. The man went to the front of the ambulance and they drove away.

She stayed with him. Someone was coming, and she needed to check _something_. She was compiling a list of things to research the second she got back to the Watchtower. So far, the list was occupying her mind and preventing her from shivering so much. Still, she wrapped herself around a blanket that she found stashed away in the back of the ambulence.

Chloe took out her phone again, and scrolled through her contact list. There was no point in calling Clark right now, he was busy and didn't pick up the first fifty million times she had called. She didn't even consider Lois- she would be too nosy.

Oliver Queen remained highlighted, as her thumb hovered over the call button. She really didn't want him to worry about her, she was feeling fine.

Before she could make a decision, all was black.

***

Oliver Queen was having a very bad day. It was 3:00 in the afternoon, and his work was over for the day. He spent the day in a very inefficient 8-hour meeting with the members of his board. Regardless of his education, leadership skills, and commanding presence, he could not change their minds- Zod's solar towers were going to be built. Every proposal was rejected, every alternative plan thrown away, and Oliver felt powerless.

Oliver got in his car, and slammed the door behind him. He turned on his cell phone, and was shocked to see that he had 10 new voicemails and missed calls from Chloe. Eyes widening in alert, he started the car. "Oh no. No-no-no-no-no." he said, dialing his voicemail and inputting his password. He nestled his phone in his cup-holder after putting the phone on speaker-phone, and listened as he drove.

"Oliver, this is Chloe. You're busy, I guess. I'll talk to you later." Oliver listened for the next message.

"I'm sorry. I promised that I wouldn't do that, old habits die hard. I was in the hospital late last night. I guess if you want to be technical, early this morning."

"_What_?" Oliver shouted at his phone.

"Don't worry, I'm not hurt. I'm fine." She assured him.

"Define fine", he muttered under his breath.

"Everything happened really fast- I was walking around last night looking for Clark, when this guy approached me. He was literally draped in red, white, and blue. Turns out he's more patriotic than I thought- he's a hero, and he was trying to warn me about something. They're keeping me in the hospital. They won't even let me out of the room to see if he's okay. Can you get here?" Oliver patiently waited for the next message.

"Hey, it's me again. Chloe, that is." Oliver let out a chuckle.

"Kind of left out some major details- the guy recognized me as Watchtower." He slammed his foot on the brake as he approached a stop sign, his face contorting in fear.

"I have no idea how he found out, but he wasn't trying to hurt me. He was trying to warn me about something, but someone attacked us before he could say anything. Ollie, we have to get to the bottom of this."

"It's Chloe." Oliver felt his stomach sink as he heard the sadness in her tone.

"The guy's name was Sylvester Pemberton. He's dead, Oliver- he died trying to protect me. I don't really know what to do. Can you just call me back, please?" Oliver pressed his foot on the accelerator.

"Hey, it's Chloe. I'm kind of waiting here in the hospital. I'm fine, but can you come get me? My car's at the Watchtower."

"It's Chloe. Could you grab some coffee on the way? I know that little French Café's in your direction, and they make an amazing almond mocha. But only if you really want to. And if you do, don't forget the extra whip!"

"It's me. I called Clark and he finally picked up, since you don't seem to be here. He's on his way, so don't worry about me, okay? I'm fine. Little bit of frostbite and sleep deprivation- that's all." Oliver cursed the board under his breath- he promised her that he would always be there, and she had to wait for Clark to pick her up.

"Hey, it's me. I just got back to the Watchtower. I'm going to do some research on Pemberton, see what I can dig up. I was able to duplicate all of his phone data at the hospital, so now I'm going to try and find his connection to his last phone calls. I want to see if I can find any suspects or at least someone that I can get information out of. I just wanted to keep you posted."

"Are you okay? You seem to be at work, but you aren't answering. The meeting couldn't have taken _that_ long, could it? Did the big, bad board members go rogue on you?" Oliver let out a laugh.

"Anyway, I'm trying to get the rest of the team together for this one- it looks mission worthy, and Clark decided to do some investigating on his own. We'll find out what we can, and compare notes with Clark later. Can you get here?"

***

Oliver made a u-turn. He knew the moment that Chloe told him that Clark picked her up that he would try to investigate this on his own. She was lonely, even if she refused to admit it. Even though it was out of Oliver's way now, he wanted to stop by the French café and pick her up a latte.

He was angry with Clark. He didn't learn anything from his trip to the future, did he? If Clark had really learned a lesson in teamwork, then why wasn't he there for her? Zod wanted to take over the world, and Clark's response was to be his friend instead of fight him while he was still a mortal. He still couldn't do what was necessary.

Oliver was worried about Chloe- it seemed as if all he did these days was work, worry about her, and try to keep Metropolis safe as the Green Arrow. It was clear by now that Clark wasn't even going to try to get her out of the Watchtower- he was some friend.

He parked far away as to not attract attention. He walked into the French café and ordered Chloe's usual almond mocha with extra whip and a hazelnut for himself. He picked them up after paying for them, and walked over to the flower shop next door.

"Can I help you with anything?" a sweet old woman asked him

"Yes, I'm looking for a bouquet of tulips" he told her. She walked over to the other side of the shop and pulled out a perfect bouquet of white tulips with red stripes.

"I'll take them" he said immediately, taking out his wallet. He paid, and the lady handed him the bouquet, saying "She's a very lucky woman" with a smile on her face. He nodded, and silently walked back to the car.

Oliver felt guilty. He should have told the florist that they weren't dating- that he and Chloe had a purely platonic relationship. Something had stopped him, something that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

The two had gotten pretty close lately. They called each other constantly, and he stopped by the Tower frequently to try and go over their plan to prevent the future from happening.

His visits always had work-related purposes. Chloe was keeping a steady eye on Tess Mercer and her projects, while Oliver was trying to figure out how to prevent the towers from construction and come up with a back-up plan. They figured out what Jor-El was doing at the barn the day that he went looking for Clark.

Jor-El hid a crystal at the Barn years ago, and came back to pick it up. Whatever it was, they were sure that Zod was trying to find it- that Jor-El was trying to keep him from it. They were sure that it was dangerous, and spent nights trying to find it, although their current efforts were futile.

With every passing day, Oliver found himself depending more and more on Chloe. He used League work as almost an excuse to drop by the Watchtower. She called him, he called her right back. He texted her every night after patrolling Metropolis to tell him that he was okay, and she texted him in the middle of the night to tell him that she got home safely. She knew his work schedule inside and out, and as far as he was concerned, he knew everything that was going on in the Tower.

There were no more secrets. The two set honesty and trust above everything else in their friendship. He would tell her about his parents as they worked at the Watchtower over pizza, and although he hated to see her look broken, she was no longer afraid to break down in front of him when times became overwhelming. She trusted him with every secret, and he trusted her with his.

Since Oliver had gotten closer to Chloe, he had been more in control of his life. His company's stock was back up, and he hadn't needed to bring some trashy girl back to his apartment so that he wouldn't feel lonely.

He now parked on the side of the road, and took his keys out of the ignition. He was about to go inside of the Watchtower, but he stayed in the car for a moment, as he thought.

Chloe was enough. Maybe the florist was right- maybe there was something going on. His relationship with Chloe was all he needed, and he hadn't trusted anyone else like this since his parents died.

Suddenly, the memories flooded him. Oliver could hear the voices, one after the other.

***Flash***

"_And you're sure this is it?" Oliver asked her, taking the headset._

"_This is where I belong." She told him, smiling._

***Flash***

_"You were living like you had a death wish, Oliver. You had to face your demons if you were ever going to make it out alive and I had to push you over the ledge in order to pull you back." She explained_

_Oliver nodded. "Did you have to push with a three-ton truck?"_

_"I didn't think a tricycle would be a strong enough point" she said, leaning forward. "You're a fighter Oliver. You fought for yourself and a second chance." He smiled at her choice of words._

_***Flash***_

"_I don't want to owe you anything, or for our friendship to be materialistic. I didn't mean to take advantage of your money, but I guess looking back at it, I did, and…"_

"_Chloe. Stop. It's okay. You did it to benefit the team- you didn't decide to randomly purchase a yacht or anything. It was for the good of mankind."_

***Flash***

_"She knows you better than anyone. She went to me first, and I saw it. She had scripts on exactly what you would say, what you would do." Bart said_

***Flash***

"_Let's be honest all the time, then", she said_

"_I think that's a deal. I'm tired of hiding from people all the time."_

"_Me too", she agreed_

***Flash***

"_She almost died at the thought of losing you." Victor said_

***Flash***

"_I can't lose you, Ollie. I don't think I can make it. Not you."_

***

Oliver saw it now, almost as if there had been a blindfold around his eyes all these years that had finally relinquished its control over him. It wasn't Lois, it was never Lois. All this time, it was Chloe. He wasn't looking for someone to simply accept his secret; he was looking for someone to fight alongside him.

Last year, he wished for an opportunity for the clarity that was given by Zatanna's magic. He felt like a sailor, lost at sea. Now he realized- Watchtower was in front of him all along.

Oliver left his car, a look of determination clear in his face. Chloe was lost right now, insecure, her faith in humanity shaky. He was going to help her. He was going to guide her with his love.

***

He opened the doors of the Watchtower as Chloe walked down the stairs.

"Oliver, you got my message."

"I got all ten of them, Chloe", he said, looking around the Watchtower. "Where are the other super-friends?" He asked

"Still waiting for them to ping me back. See, this is why I keep asking everybody to come up with some sort of standardized trouble alert. The team needs structure." She told him, as she looked through a pile of papers.

"That what we're lacking?" he asked as he stared at the monitors. How could he not have noticed how absorbed she had become in her work?

"You're really on a kick lately, Chloe- personal phone conversations, bank records, Amazon Wish list" he finished, smirking at the last monitor.

"Big sister's watching", she said as she minimized the Amazon page. He stared at the window that replaced it. It was his e-mail. Great, she read the emails, and knows about Dinah's lousy attempt at flirting.

"Is that my e-mail? Chloe, I'll have you know that those messages between me and Canary were purely platonic", he defended.

"Can we skip your virtual love life, and actually focus on the job here?" she asked him

"Gladly" he said, grateful for her suggestion.

"Great", she said, turning to the computer screens. "Our victim's name is Sylvester Pemberton, and he had a long criminal record- fraud, embezzlement, and assault. He didn't have any family, but he did have a friend show up at the hospital", Chloe explained, typing rapidly on the computer.

Oliver stared at the screen, focused. He watched in amazement as Chloe pulled up the hospital's security feed and magically ended up with the name for Pemberton's friend.

"Courtney Whitmore. She's a sophomore at Blue Valley High, and she gets a big old D+ for her attendance. She hasn't been to school in the last three weeks." Chloe read her academic file.

"You don't think Blondie's our killer, do you?" he asked, staring at the screen. She's just a teenager- there was no way.

"No, but I do think she knows something" Chloe said, as she pulled out some printouts and walked over to him.

"I want to take a closer look at this glowing staff the police have as evidence. We need to get it."

Oliver took the print out from her hands, and tried to resist a smile. "We meaning me, right?" he asked

She smiled at him innocently. "I'll see what I can come up with" he said, turning to leave. "Oh, and enjoy the flowers and coffee", he added over his shoulders before he closed the doors.

"The what?" she called after him. There was no answer.

Five minutes later, there was a delivery. Almond mocha with extra whip and a bouquet of the most beautiful tulips she had ever seen. She smiled from ear to ear as she put the flowers in water. "Only Oliver", she said to herself, shaking her head after smelling the flowers. She grabbed the coffee, sat down at her desk, and went back to work.

***

Clark was gone, and Chloe was at the Watchtower, helpless. She slipped on her Bluetooth headset, and called Oliver, praying that he would answer. He answered on the first ring.

"Oliver?" she asked

"What's wrong?" Even with a distorted voice, Oliver sounded concerned.

"Clark's gone."

"What do you mean, he's gone?" he asked.

"One of Pemberton's old gang somehow teleported him away. He said he had to show him something, called him his friend."

"Where would they take him?" Oliver asked, running on a rooftop.

"I think the same place they took Courtney."

"Another twist to the mystery, Chloe. Satellites caught the glow from that staff over the Metropolis ten minutes ago. I followed it. Wherever Goldilocks went, she got a change of clothes." He said, jumping down.

"It's getting stranger", he added, as he peered over the girl walking.

"Stranger, how?" Chloe asked him

"Well, it's the middle of the night in suicide slums. She's standing under a street light- all dolled up and no place to go. I'd say she's making herself-" Oliver stopped in realization. She was using herself as bait.

"-the target", he finished.

"Oliver, you have to stop her. She doesn't know what she's getting herself into. She's just a kid." The voice said in his ear. He nodded, even though he knew Chloe couldn't see him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he called out to the girl.

She looked upwards and saw the Green Arrow. "Me? What are _you_ doing? Get out of here!" she called out, as he jumped down.

"Red, white, and blue- loud and proud to be an American. Nice."

"Well, at least I'm proud of something other than _myself_" she bit back.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I know what kind of hero you are, Green Arrow."

"Is the masked cheerleader really talking down to me? Where's my friend? Where's Clark?" he asked. There was a sudden blue glow, and the Green Arrow was pushed to the floor.

"Anyone up for some ice-cream?" he heard a voice say.

"What are you supposed to be, sweetie? The star-spangled kid?" the voice went on. Shivering, Oliver got up and reached in his quiver.

"It's Star Girl. Say cheese!" she told him, as she blew back her enemy with the rod. Frost created an icicle rod, and they fought.

Oliver had an arrow ready, but couldn't shoot it without risking Courtney's life. He took the opportunity when there was a large enough distance between the two. Aiming the arrow at the icicles heading her way, he released the arrow, and they shattered the ice just in time. Icicle disappeared when he realized that she was not alone.

Courtney turned to him. "You jaded jerk, you just ruined everything!" She exclaimed. "This was my chance- I was supposed to get first shot at Sylvester's killer. He promised me."

"He who?" Oliver asked in disbelief. He just saved her life, and she was lecturing him? The next thing he knew, he was being taken into the sky.

"Who the hell are you?" he asked the winged creature who took him. Receiving no answer, he blindly reached one hand in his pocket, and grabbed the first thing he felt.

He stuck the throwing star in his pocket- it looked like an antique, and he hoped that Chloe would be able to identify it later. It had to give some sort of clue.

They were approaching the Watchtower. Oliver knew that if he could just get in there, he would be safe. He started to struggle, and tried to fight his way out of the winged man's grasp.

"Stop moving", the raspy voice said.

Oliver continued to move around, and he was thrown in the window. Not the most graceful landing, but the job was done. He looked around. Chloe was on the floor, her headset on the floor.

He instantly started chastising himself- what if Chloe was hurt because of him? He made a motion to move to her, but there was sharp pain in his body. He looked down and saw pieces of glass penetrated into his skin.

"Oliver!" Chloe exclaimed, moving over to him. He let out a deep breath. She looked okay.

"Are you okay?" she asked, rolling him over to take a look at him.

"He'll live. Now, stay the hell out of our business. Next time, I won't ask so nicely." The man with wings said before flying away.

***

Chloe rushed to the bathroom and grabbed a cotton ball, a bottle of iodine, and a pair of tweezers. After setting the objects down on a table, she hurried to the kitchen and grabbed a bowl.

"I'm fine, Chloe. Don't worry about me" Oliver insisted, as he sat on the table.

"Have you looked at yourself, Oliver? There is glass everywhere. You were thrown through a window." She stated bluntly, waving the tweezers at Oliver's face.

"It doesn't hurt, I promise." He lied, wincing slightly as Chloe pulled a shard of glass out of his arm. She showed him the shard before dropping it into the bowl.

Chloe silently removed every piece of glass as Oliver stared at her. She put a couple drops of iodine on the cotton ball, and started to clean the cut areas.

"Ten to one says pigeon-man's got Clark locked up in a bird cage somewhere", he said, rubbing his neck, as Chloe tended to his arm.

She didn't reply, so he continued. "I don't know who the hell these people are, but they sure don't like us. Ow." He finished

"I thought you said it didn't hurt." She said worried.

"I lied" he told her. She pushed his head upward and started to clean the cut on his forehead.

"You know, you're lucky he didn't drop you from 10 stories up."

"I don't feel lucky. As much as I hate to admit it, these people really know what they're doing. OW!" he exclaimed, as he felt the stinging of the iodine.

She walked away from him, and began to wrap up her medical supplies. "Don't you think it's sad that a secret society of retired super-villains can actually come out of the mothballs and tear us apart like this?"

"They know everything about us Chloe", he reasoned.

"Yeah, and we don't know anything about them." She said, grabbing the med-kit and walking to put it away.

"You know, maybe it's time I gave up on trying to bring the band back together. Maybe this has all been a lost cause." She said, walking past him.

"Whoa- don't give up on us yet. We may be a bit dysfunctional and a little hard to wrangle at times, but when the chips are down, we're always there, Chloe." He told her. He couldn't have her give up on the League- on him. Not yet.

She angrily closed the cabinet. "They took Clark out from under our noses."

"And I took this off the Wing Wonder when he yanked me into the sky." He told her, revealing the throwing star. She walked over, and took the item.

"It looks like an antique- from a museum." She said, the pieces beginning to fall in place.

"Now, I say we get some reinforcements, get Clark, and throw them through some windows."

"I say you're right." She agreed.

***

"Wow. So this is where you guys operate?" Courtney asked Chloe.

"More or less. Mostly less" Chloe said, with a hint of sadness. The League hadn't been around in a while.

Courtney looked around in approval. "I guess this is everything you could ever ask for in order to fight the good fight right?" Chloe nodded.

"It's missing something." Courtney said. "Where are the pictures? Or, you know, a place to sit down and eat?" she asked

Chloe looked at her oddly. "Sylvester always told me that the JSA's Brownstone was always considered a second home for everyone. I mean, they'd even spend Thanksgivings there with their spouses and kids." Courtney explained.

"It was like a family." Chloe said, smiling at the thought.

"Yeah. I mean, it _was_ a family."

"How did you get involved with the Justice Society?" Chloe asked her, sitting down at the couch.

"Well, my stepfather Pat was Sylvester Pemberton's sidekick years ago. The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripe-sie."

"Stripe-sie?" Chloe asked

"It was like the worst code-name ever." Courtney said, with a laugh. She continued her story.

"I found Sylvester's old equipment. And well, first I put it on, just to annoy Pat." Chloe smiled

"But, I don't know. The first time I saved someone…"

"You were hooked." Chloe finished.

"Yeah- line and sinker", Courtney confirmed.

"Yeah. So you're not related to any of them?"

"Well, family's not just about blood. And watching people doesn't make them a part of your life. I mean, I don't know Chloe, maybe your team would operate better if they didn't get together only when there was trouble. And if you made it a little more home sweet home, and a little less nuclear war-room." Courtney explained.

"I think I can do that." Chloe told her.

Suddenly, Oliver called the Watchtower. Chloe got up from the couch, accepted the call, and his face appeared on the screen. Courtney also got up.

"Hey, Oliver. What do you got?" she asked him

"I'm here with Wing-man. Did you put the call in to the snow-miser?" Oliver asked as he took off his sunglasses.

"I re-routed the call through the hospital and left a message that said that his father's taken a turn for the worst. If Icicle's been checking in as often as he has been, we should be able to catch him at Met Gen" Chloe told him.

"Thanks." Oliver said, ending the call.

"What about him?" Courtney asked

"What do you mean, what about him?" Chloe asked her

"You care for him, but he doesn't know. Why?" she prompted

"Courtney, it's a bit complicated." Chloe sighed

"You care for him. It's not complicated." Courtney told her.

"Look, I would love for this place to have the Thanksgiving dinners. To have spouses and children come and fill this place with life. But it's a dream." Chloe explained

"It doesn't have to be. Hawkman had a wife, a fellow superhero that worked by his side."

"Worked. Past tense. She's dead now, isn't she?"

"Why does it matter?" Courtney asked her

"Because I don't want him to die for me!" she exclaimed. She said it with so much force that Courtney stepped back.

"Pemberton died in order to save my life. And a year from now, five years from now, ten years from now, that could be Oliver. And I can't do it." Chloe told her, weakly, sitting back down on the couch.

"You can't jeopardize your happiness, Chloe." Courtney said, taking a seat beside her.

"If it keeps him alive, then I have to."

"Watching over him doesn't make him a part of your life, Chloe. Watching over him is not a substitute for loving him."

"It keeps him safe."

"Even if he is safe, would you really rather see him with someone else?"

Chloe felt sick to her stomach at the thought with Oliver with someone else. It didn't matter if it were Lois, Dinah, or some random girl he picked up at a party. She just felt sick. Still, there was the League to think about.

"Okay, say we _do_ decide to start a relationship. What if it ends and our team suffers for it?"

"You will figure it out then. For now, just live."

***

Icicle was put back behind bars. The world was a safer place, and while he should really be relaxing at the Clock Tower enjoying the feeling of a job well done, Oliver was wandering around the streets, feeling empty. He couldn't stop thinking about something that Hawkman of all people had said to him earlier.

***Flashback***

"_It's not what happened to you that destroyed this team, is it? It's what happened to her, right? Hawkgirl? What was she, your partner?" Oliver asked him_

"_My wife." He corrected, slamming his weapon down, and turning away from Oliver. _

"_You were married?" Oliver asked, surprised. Being a hero usually destroyed relationships. _

_He closed the cabinet. "Hard to believe? What would someone like me know about love? When I only know it ends, and it always ends. In every one of my lives, past and present- the sooner this life is over, the sooner I see my wife again." He said, sharpening his blade angrily._

"_I've never had a connection like that, at least, not one that lasted." Oliver told him. _

"_Because you hide it." Hawkman said simply._

"_Hide what?" Oliver inquired._

_  
"You don't want anyone to know how important they are to you, so you act like a jackass."_

***End Flashback***

Winged-wonder was right. Oliver was always afraid to let people know how important they are to him. He blocked out Lois and focused on being the Green Arrow. He cheated on Mercy, because she understood him too well.

Every date that he brought back to the Clock Tower always woke up in the morning alone. He had learned to duck out quickly, to the point of waking up before most people. No strings, no true connections- just sex. He kept all secrets to himself.

And what would happen with Chloe, if they ever started a relationship? He would probably cheat on her as well- there were no secrets.

And he had already hurt her before, when he tried to kill himself. It was a selfish act at the time; he didn't even consider anyone else caring about him enough to be hurt. It was always selfish- it never occurred to him that Mercy would be hurt if he cheated on her or that Lois could be hurting with every rain check and kept secret.

If he didn't change, it would continue to happen again and again. It would never end, and he would never be happy. He could barely stand the sight of Chloe crying in front of him, looking completely broken. If he didn't change, that would happen again. And it would be his fault.

Oliver suddenly found himself in front of the Watchtower. He almost walked past the building- there was no mission, no real reason right now to visit her.

He realized it then- if nothing else, they were at least friends. Good friends, even best friends. And they didn't _need_ to use work as an excuse to just stop by. Chloe usually got incredibly absorbed in her work at the Watchtower and there was a good chance that she hadn't eaten. They could go out to dinner, and talk about things completely non-work related.

He was going to get her out of the Watchtower, help her interact with the outside world again. He opened the double doors, and walked in.

"Anyone home?" he called. He saw Chloe and John Jones there.

"What's up?" Chloe asked, suddenly all business.

"Nothing, actually." Oliver said. Chloe raised her eyebrows.

He let out a soft chuckle. "I thought I'd stop by and see if anyone was hungry." She still looked at him, confused.

John smiled. "I could use some dinner. Chloe?" he prompted

She looked at John, and at Oliver. He flashed a smile. She looked at John again. "Uh…sure." She said, slightly uncertain. Oliver nodded.

"You're buying, Mr. Queen", she said, suddenly regaining her sense of confidence, as she walked past him and grabbed her bag.

"Hey, don't look at me. I'm living off of a policeman's salary." John told him lightly.

"That's fine, dessert's on you." Oliver teased, slapping his back.

"At Mars, we never had dessert. But I have grown especially fond of cookies." John said. Mars' last descendent, eating cookies- Oliver smiled at the thought, as they walked out the door.

Chloe rested her hands on the doors and looked around the Watchtower. For a split second, she was afraid to leave. It felt like a lifetime since she had gone outside without a fixed purpose. What if someone needed her?

Then she remembered what Courtney told her. _Watching people doesn't make them a part of your life._ Right now, she was going to live. She smiled to herself, and closed the doors.

***

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and the extra length! I'm sorry if it seems as if Chloe falls apart every chapter, but I really think that she needs to heal.


	11. Releasing Fears

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I know that everyone was looking forward to the Warrior chapter, because that's when Chlollie really launches. I wanted to make sure that I did a good job on it…which also explains why this is my longest chapter yet. 7,135 words. Enjoy!

***

Chapter Ten: Releasing Fears

Chloe was in the Watchtower when the door opened. She looked up to see Dinah walk in.

"Dinah!" she said, startled by her presence, but smiling all the same.

"Hey, I'm in Metropolis for the day because of work. Thought I'd stop by and check in. What's new?"

Chloe stood up to greet her teammate. "I'm glad you're here. A lot's happened since you guys left, and I didn't want to risk sending an e-mail."

"Do you want to grab some lunch? You can fill me in." Dinah asked her

"Sure. Let me grab my bag."

***

"So, what's new?" Dinah asked her female companion

"Where to start?" Chloe murmured

"Most people start at the beginning", Dinah laughed

"Well, I can confirm that Lois was in the future." Chloe started. Dinah gave her a questioning look.

"Tess Mercer kidnapped her and tapped into the memories in her brain." Chloe explained.

"Okay, so good future or bad future?" Dinah inquired

"Bad. Very bad. And we have to prevent it from happening." Chloe told her

"What happens?"

"Kandorians take over the world. They have Clark's abilities. They have to turn the sun's rays red in order to do it, and that removes Clark's powers."

"And we're helpless", Dinah assumed. Chloe nodded.

"When is it supposed to happen?" Dinah asked her

"Lois travelled a year into the future, but the towers that turn the sun red are being constructed."

"What is Clark doing about it?"

"He's befriending the Kandorians. He's trying to get them to integrate into human society."

Dinah detected a hint of bitterness in her voice. "And you disagree."

"Dinah, this is Clark we're talking about. You know that he will do anything to prevent himself from getting his hands dirty."

"I know. We can't have a Doomsday repeat- what's the backup plan?"

Chloe reached in her bag and pulled out a small notebook. "In the future, Oliver and I create a resistance group. We supposedly develop Kryptonite weapons, and I think it's a good idea."

"What can I help with?" Dinah asked

"This is just a backup plan. If Clark succeeds, we won't even need them. We had knives and arrows. Arrows are pretty self-explanatory, and I can get a mold for them later. The knives were throwing knives, and I don't really know much about them. I'm thinking this for the design", Chloe said, showing her a picture on the notebook.

"These dimensions aren't good for throwing. We need something with a good center of gravity." Dinah reached in her bag, and grabbed a pen. She immediately began sketching a new design for the knives on the next page of the notebook.

"Lead handles and cases would be perfect- keep Clark safe in case he stumbles into them. And the handles would give the perfect weight distribution." Dinah said.

Suddenly, Dinah saw the waitress behind Chloe heading towards their table with their meals. She closed the notebook, and placed it on her lap. Chloe raised an eyebrow and suspected what was happening.

"We should have lunch together more often, Chloe. I feel like I've missed so much", Dinah told her.

"It'd be better if you were around more, Dinah" Chloe chuckled lightly, as the waitress placed their meals on the table and turned to leave from the table.

"I'm sorry about that. My absence, I mean. It's just that I've been trying to make a name for myself in Star City, both as a reporter and for my…extracurricular activities. The others have visited though, haven't they?" Dinah asked, the moment that the waitress was beyond

Chloe shook her head. "They e-mail, but they haven't visited. Not even Bart, who can literally speed in whenever he wants to. And I would tell them what's going on in the future, but I don't want someone tracing the e-mails, or tapping into the phone calls, regardless of how secure the servers are."

"They will, Chloe. This isn't like last time. I promise you, this isn't going to be like last time."

Chloe nodded her head, determined. "I know. I won't let it happen. I can't."

"Chloe, that's not all there is to the story, is it? There's more- something you're not telling me."

Chloe stared at her plate for a moment. She looked at Dinah, and wasn't sure if she should tell her. She had been so used to hiding her secrets from Lois, that it had never occurred to her that she could tell Dinah everything.

"I die."

"And this is for self-preservation. There's no crime in that, Chloe."

"No, it's not just me. I think all of us die."

Dinah raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Chloe took a deep breath. "In the future, the League isn't there. You guys aren't part of the resistance group. So either you guys are caught up in the Kandorians in your respective cities, or you are dead. And regardless of our hectic lifestyles, I know that you guys would be there if there was a Kandorian apocalypse, regardless of your locations."

"So we're dead as well."

Chloe nodded. "I die, you guys die, Clark dies, and right after I die, Oliver…"

Dinah nodded in understanding. She took out the notebook, and continued to work on her sketch.

"What does Oliver think about the weapons?" Dinah asked when she was finished.

"I haven't told him that I'm creating them." Chloe told her

"You have to tell him", Dinah said simply.

"This is part of my job, Dinah. He told me a while back that the weapons are a good idea. That's as good as giving me permission."

"No Chloe, you don't understand. As a group, we have to stick together. The smallest of lies will pull us apart."

"We've all been through a lot recently, and while you guys have gone off on your own, Oliver and I have been working together. He's become my best friend- he's been there for me when Clark hasn't been. And I just don't want to test those waters yet." Chloe explained

"I understand. And in the end, it's going to be your call. But try not to hold off on telling him for too long." Dinah said

"This is just a backup plan. Hopefully, the Kandorians will never get their powers, and we won't need the weapons."

Dinah gave her a look. "I know. I guess there's a small part of me that's still hoping that Clark's right." Chloe explained

"But the blind loyalty is gone."

Chloe nodded. "It's not worth the safety of the human race."

"I agree." Dinah gave Chloe back the notebook. "I think that this should be a good prototype."

"Thanks Dinah. I really appreciate it", Chloe told her sincerely, putting the notebook away.

"Just keep in mind that if you want to develop Kryptonite arrows, you're going to have to tell Oliver", Dinah reminded her.

"I promise that if there is a single sign that shows that the Kandorians have powers, Oliver will be the first to know about the weapons." Chloe promised

After splitting the bill, the two went their separate ways. Chloe unlocked the doors to the Watchtower with a good feeling. She liked spending time with Dinah, and most of all, she liked being honest.

She was about to get back to work when she heard her phone ring. It was Lois.

"Hey Lois, what's up?"

"_So I've been thinking that we haven't done a girls night out in a while."_

Chloe glanced at the monitors. She hadn't gotten much work done today. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that, Lo. I've just been really busy recently."

"_We've both been busy. I don't even see you anymore, and we live together!"_

"Well, you've been chasing down leads. And chasing down Clark, which is a full time job in itself", she added.

"_Alright, so we're both to blame here. Listen, there's this comic book convention, and I have to go to find a good human interest piece. It should be fun!"_

"Lois, I don't know. I don't have a costume or anything", Chloe said, immediately trying to get out of it.

"_I don't care how you're dressed. You can put on a jacket and go as my funky cousin, for all I care. I just want to hang out."_ Lois told her

Chloe glanced at the powered off monitors calling her name. And then, she thought about how nice it was to have lunch with Dinah and just tell her everything. She needed to spend more time with Lois if they were even going to have a shot at honesty. They didn't need complete honesty, at least the big things.

"I guess I can come along for a little bit", she said.

"_Okay, I'll see you at the convention. Love you, Chloe."_ Lois hung up the phone.

Chloe pressed the end button on her phone, and let out a groan as she put her head down on her desk.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything", Oliver said from the doorway.

Her head shot up. "Hey" she greeted.

"So what's going on in the life of Chloe Sullivan?" he asked, as he handed her a cup of coffee.

She inhaled the aroma of her usual almond mocha. "Keep spoiling me like this, and I may have to keep you", she joked.

"So what's new?" he asked again

She wanted more than anything to tell him about the design for the Kryptonite weapons, but found it unnecessary. It was a Plan B, exactly the way she told Dinah earlier. She didn't need to tell him now.

"Canary's in town for the day. I just came back from lunch with her. And now, Lois wants me to go to some comic book convention with her. I don't know how I'm supposed to get any work done." She sighed

"Good", he replied.

She raised an eyebrow. "I don't know how me not doing my work is a good thing."

"I think the League can survive without you on watch for one day", he assured her.

"Okay, but I'm syncing my cell phone to the Watchtower's alert system. Make sure you have your phone on during patrol tonight. The slightest of hiccups, and I want you there."

"Deal. Go have fun with Lois, everything's under control here." He told her

She synced her phone to the Watchtower, grabbed her things, and headed out the door. Oliver stuck around, and turned on the computers.

She turned around. "Hey", she called out.

He looked at her.

"Thank you."

Oliver just smiled.

***

Chloe was walking around the comic book convention, trying to be invisible. She would be having a fun time with Lois, but her cousin ran off somewhere to change, and was nowhere to be found.

She was trying to keep up with everything away from the base- she had hooked up all Watchtower alerts to her cell phone, and was having Oliver take care of everything while he was out on patrol.

There was currently a disturbance, and she was worried about him. She didn't know what he was up against, and they didn't have the headsets for communication. She was relying on her cell phone, and Oliver was walking in blind. That didn't sit well with her.

She was texting Oliver on the phone when suddenly, a Star Wars Storm Trooper bumped into her. "Hey!" she exclaimed at the character. It didn't even have the decency to apologize. She was about to tell it off, when the helmet came off and she saw her cousin. Lois looked irritated.

"Sorry. I can't see a thing in this helmet", Lois apologized.

Chloe let out a chuckle "Lois", she said, shaking her head slightly.

"This is not what I had in mind when Randall said that I had to be embedded journalist for the day." Lois said

"Come on" Chloe said, taking her arm. "It shouldn't be hard for Lois Lane to nail down a human interest piece here", she told her as they walked.

"Save the hammer, Mamma's going to need a crowbar. I can't get anything out of these people!" Lois said as Chloe prevented her from bumping into someone dressed as an alien.

"Well, that armor doesn't exactly make you Miss Approachable", Chloe explained. She pointed at two women getting their pictures taken. Lois was wearing armor, while they were wearing hardly anything at all.

"Right", Lois said in realization. "No wonder Clark's been avoiding me- I'm losing touch with fantasy without even realizing it!"

Chloe looked at her in disbelief. "The last thing Clark feels when he thinks about you is boredom", she told her.

"Maybe I'm doing this to myself. You know, maybe it's a deep-rooted fear of intimacy. Maybe I'm not letting loose because every time I do, things fall apart!" Lois said, in an attempt to understand her own actions as they walked.

"Maybe my therapist is right. You know, she said that I used to have these fantasies about Clark, and now? Not so much as a dirty limerick!" Lois exclaimed

"Lois!" Chloe said, cutting her off. The last thing that she wanted to do tonight was analyze Lois' sex life with Clark.

Chloe was starting to think that going out tonight with Lois was a mistake. She was starting to feel like the third wheel again. At least in the Watchtower, she was paving her own path in the world.

In the Watchtower, she was by herself and when she wasn't, she was with Oliver. He had never made her feel like the third wheel, never made her feel unimportant. Chloe was waiting for some confirmation from him that he was okay, something to distract her from this whole thing.

In the end though, Lois was her cousin, and she was right: being Watchtower had taken up a lot of her time, and they really needed to bond again. And right now, Lois needed her.

"Maybe you just need to calm down and focus on your work." She told Lois. Suddenly her phone rang, and she silently cheered. It was him. She read the message: _Target Acquired. Maniac with boomerangs… Hooray_

Oliver was alright. She suddenly felt better, and began to type a response.

"You're right", Lois said. "And maybe you should take advantage of being immersed in your element", she said, putting a hand over the screen. Chloe looked up at Lois. For a moment, she had almost forgotten that she was even there.

"Get your hands off of the digital world and onto some hunky, human fantasy for a change." Lois told her.

Chloe smiled at her cousin.

"Have a little fun, one of us should." Lois said

Chloe looked around the convention. "Alright"

"Good. Now, I have to go make a phone call. Promise me you're going to kick the Crackberry to the curb."

"I promise", Chloe said with a smile.

"Okay", Lois said, going off to make her phone call.

Chloe returned her attention to the phone the instant the Lois was a good distance away. She finished typing out her response, and started walking around the convention in search of something interesting.

She saw a bright light, and a couple of wires short circuiting above her. She turned around, and looked up to see a huge spaceship about to collapse on her. It was coming down fast.

She quickly turned her back on it, and got down. She expected the ultimate collision that the spaceship would make on her body, when she heard it making contact with something else.

She knew not to expect Clark- he would never risk his identity, especially with Lois nearby. She looked up to see a masked man with tights and a cape holding the spaceship. She was vaguely reminded of when she found out Clark's secret- the man was holding the spaceship in a way almost identical to Clark catching that car all those years ago.

She heard cheering, and the man asked if she was okay. She gave him a nod and a smile. Almost instantly, he set down the spaceship, and disappeared.

***

Chloe didn't wait an extra second to process what had just happened. There had been enough near misses in her life for her to get over it very quickly. She had already tracked this guy down, and was outside the building that he was hiding out in.

This hero- he had super-speed and super-strength. There was so much possibility. He could be a Kryptonian or even a Kandorian with his powers. Or he could just be a guy who had just come to grips with his powers. He could be an amazing asset in the future if he was on her side.

Excited by the possibility, she called Oliver. He picked up on the first ring, _"Chloe"_ he acknowledged

"Hi Oliver, I was just at the comic book convention with Lois when a spaceship fell on me."

"_Are you okay? Are you at the hospital?"_ he asked, worried.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. There was this masked guy that caught the spaceship right before it hit me and sped away."

"_Have you ever seen him before? Do you think that he's a Kandorian with his powers intact?"_ he asked

"That was my first thought, but I think he's a new hero just making a name for himself in the city."

"_What makes you think that?" _

"Well, he's not very good at covering his tracks. It only took me 3 minutes on my phone to find him. Zod would know better. I'm in my car right outside the building this guy's in. Thought I'd see what you think about this whole thing before I go barging in." She explained

"_Chloe, stop. It's late, and he's probably no good to us angry if you break into his place. He's camping out there, which means he'll probably be there in the morning."_

"And if he isn't? Oliver, he can be a huge asset to the team if he joins us. We can't lose him now."

"_And barging in there is no way to gain his trust. Not to mention that you're tired, which means that you won't be on top of your game when it comes to winning him over."_

"So what do you want me to do, just leave him alone?" Chloe asked, mad now.

"_No, I'm asking you to take care of yourself. Get at least 8 hours of sleep, wake up to a new day, and then we'll deal with this new character."_

"I can't just put everything on hold because I'm…"

"_Human?" _he chuckled

"Maybe."

"_Chloe, you were in a hospital weeks ago because of sleep deprivation because you were pushing yourself."_

"I was in the hospital mostly because of the frost bite delivered by a super-villain, if you recall."

"_Chloe…"_

"Fine, I won't confront the guy right this second. But I'm going to the Watchtower to find out what I can."

"_Good. At least try to get some sleep."_ Oliver pleaded with her.

"Okay. I'll talk to you later." She hung up the phone, and looked at the front door of the building.

For a moment, she contemplated ignoring Oliver and just confronting the guy. Oliver wasn't in charge of her- she was her own person, and displayed time and again that she could take care of herself.

She glanced at her handbag, which was resting on the passenger's seat. She always carried a stun gun with her, and would be safe. However, if this was a Kandorian with powers, there was nothing that she could do to protect herself. She didn't have any Kryptonite with her. Chloe let out a sigh, turned on her car, and pulled away.

***

Chloe started carrying Kryptonite in her bag with her stun gun. It was sitting in a small lead box: perfectly harmless if Clark was nearby, but would provide her with protection. After a night of researching and coming up with no history or information on this guy, she was definitely interested.

Chloe stepped into the abandoned apartment and saw the man staring at himself in the mirror topless. She saw him flexing his muscles and looking impressed with himself. She tried not to roll her eyes, but he looked _good_.

"You know, after that heroic hit and run, it would be hard for even the most distressed damsel not to take offense." She said, stepping into sight.

"What would a hero say?" he murmured to himself after glancing at her. He turned around. "You're welcome, citizen." He said strongly

She saw the full sight of him. She was impressed, but still tried to maintain a sense of professionalism. "And you left a not so subtle trail of breadcrumbs on your way over here for the quick change."

"I'm sorry; this is all kind of new to me. I didn't realize how fast I was. A sonic boom- it's not that fast, I guess", he finished in a low whisper.

So he was new hero after all. He wasn't a Kandorian- he wouldn't be telling her all of this if he was. She smiled at him.

"Did you want to…?" she started

"What?" he asked

He glanced at himself, and saw that he was shirtless. "Oh", he said, now embarrassed. He picked up a nearby shirt, and put it on.

"Not very heroic", he said, looking at his reflection.

"Good street look though", he added as he turned around to look at Chloe.

"Well look, whether you feel like it or not, I know a superhero when I see one. I'm sort of in the business of helping superheroes." She explained

"I don't think anyone's dad talked about that on career day. Are you for real?" He asked, astonished.

"Yeah, I'm about as real as it gets. Chloe Sullivan", she introduced herself, holding out a hand.

"Steven Swift", he said excitedly, clutching her hand.

"Ow", she exclaimed as she felt the pain of the handshake in her hand.

"Sorry." He released her hand.

She let out a chuckle. She was being reminded of Clark before he changed his mind about humanity. Once during her senior year of high school, he lost his memory- all recollection of his powers destroyed. This guy reminded of the friendship that she built with Clark that day as she reintroduced him to his powers.

She was starting to think that maybe everything that had happened with Clark recently was a way of fate letting Steven Swift into her life. Maybe it was time to move on from one hero to another. She could help him become an important member of the team, and he could be the hero that she was looking for to help prevent the future from happening.

"You know, maybe we can talk about how you fit in around the world's finest over coffee sometime." She told him

"That sounds…pretty cool." He said, taking her hand again for a more normal handshake.

"Great."

"So, did you want to get that coffee now, or…?" he asked

"Now? Yeah, okay, if you're not doing anything." She agreed

"Yeah, ladies first", he said.

***

Steven and Chloe walked to the nearest coffee shop. Chloe walked inside, and peered at the menu.

This place didn't make a very good caffeine buzz, but they did make good decaf drinks. She loved coffee, not just for the effects of the caffeine, but for taste as well. But on the other hand, she hadn't done much Watchtower work, and was probably looking at a long night. Time to load up on the sugar and espresso shots- she gave the man her drink order and waited.

In no time, her drink was ready. "And you made sure that my decaf caramel java-chip white chocolate mocha has three shots in it?" she inquired

"Yeah" the man told her.

She smiled "Great." She stepped aside so that Steven could order. She dipped a finger in the whipped cream, and tasted perfection.

"Can I get you something?" the barista asked Steven, as Chloe dipped her finger in the whipped cream again.

"Uh, a glass of milk would be great." He answered

The barista and Chloe gave him a confused look. People don't order milk at coffee shops. Coffee, tea, even hot chocolate is acceptable, just not milk.

Steven caught on. "I mean coffee. Dark, black, please." He corrected. The barista nodded.

Chloe secured a lid on her cup as Steven accepted the coffee that the barista gave him. He took one sip, and nearly choked on his drink.

Chloe and the barista shared a smile- this guy was obviously new to coffee.

"Are you okay?" she asked her new friend

"Yeah, just strong is all." He answered

"So, if I'm going to help you become acclimated, I just need to ask you", Chloe started, as they walked out of the coffee shop.

"-Do you really know superheroes?" he interrupted

"Yeah", she said, astounded at his bluntness in the middle of the streets of Metropolis. She continued to walk. "Let's just focus on"

"-All of them?" he asked

"Most of them, I guess." She answered

He gave her a look of amazement. "What?" she asked

"You know actual superheroes, and you couldn't sound more bored. That's amazing, is what it is." He told her

"Well, it's a living", she said humbly.

"Can you at least tell me which heroes you know?" he pried

"No, wait, don't! That would compromise their identities." He stopped her before she had the opportunity to say no.

"I can't believe I asked that", he said, disappointed in himself.

"Let's just focus on what makes Steven Swift so super. So were you exposed to meteor rock? Or maybe you were actually born this way? That would make you a meta-human." She changed the topic

"Or are you from space?" she asked with a light chuckle

He looked at her astounded. "That last one was a joke", she said, trying to cover her tracks so that he didn't know that much about her friends.

"Kind of. Oh god, you're not actually from space, are you?" She felt her stomach sink. She had done it again- she was attracted to another alien.

"No. Just…sorry…I'm an orphan. I got sent to Metropolis to live with my aunt when I was…little. And then a couple of weeks ago, I got caught in a chemical fire, and well, here we are." He explained

She gave him a smile. Not an alien. "It's common to the archetype", he explained

"Yeah, and I thought I was the expert", she said with a laugh. Suddenly, he turned away from her, and listened to something. That was exactly how Clark looked when he was using his super-hearing.

"Excuse me, Miss Sullivan", he said politely, handing her his coffee before going off. She smiled as he sped away.

Steven Swift was just almost exactly the way she pictured Clark would be when he finally got his act together. He was loyal, polite, innocent, and trusted in her. It had been a long time since she had seen someone in the world act as innocent- it was nice.

She ran into the vague direction that Steven speeded to, coffees in hand. She saw kids running her way, and knew that she had found him. He was in uniform when she saw him. He sped back into his street clothes.

"Sorry", he said as he stuffed the uniform back into his backpack. "I just had to save the day. So, what's next?"

***

She thought of introducing Steven to Oliver right away, but figured that she ought to get a real handle of what all of his abilities are.

Knowing that Lois was still at the comic book convention, she took him to the Talon, and after Steven convinced her, they disappeared upstairs to the apartment. She wasn't sure what he was going to do, and was nervous. They had just met, and she was still upset over losing her husband.

He saw Lois' X-box, and turned it on immediately. He grabbed a controller, and started to play whatever game was in the system. Chloe sat on the couch, and watch him completely let himself go. He was like a little kid- no stress, no worries. It was amazing how he was able to save the day, and still relax.

"I don't get why you didn't want to come up here. This place is awesome! It's way cooler than my room! I mean my pad."

"You know, I must have gotten my signals mixed. I certainly didn't think this is what you meant when you said you wanted to come upstairs", she said with an awkward laugh.

"Why do you keep doing that?" he asked

"Doing what?"

"You keep trying not to smile, like the whole night. We're having fun, right?" he asked

"Uh, sure! I guess" she answered

"You guess? Come on, get up here!"

"What? No, I've never even touched Lois' X-Box, I would look ridiculous."

"That's the whole point! Maybe you _need_ to look ridiculous. When's the last time you had any fun?" he inquired

"I have lots of fun!" Chloe defended

"Just tell me when, and you can keep sitting there watching _me_ have all the fun you're _not_ having."

"Alright, fine! If I get up, do you promise to answer all of my questions?" she asked him

"Cross my heart." He promised

She got up from the couch, and grabbed a controller.

"Alright, a deal's a deal. Powers: what's under the hood?" she asked as they played

"Oh, you know, your standard super-speed, enhanced strength, augmented hearing- I like to call it angel hearing. But I think that's it", he said floating above her.

She looked up at him, and let of a laugh. "How about flight?" she asked

"What? Why would you think I can…" he stopped as he looked directly down. He was flying.

"Holy crap, I can fly?" he asked

She smiled. "Holy crap!! I can fly!!" he exclaimed before he fell to the ground.

He got up, walked towards the window and looked outside. He stepped back, and held out his hand for Chloe to take. "Come on", he told her.

She took his hand, and they stepped out of the window onto the fire escape. She grabbed onto the fire escape with her free hand, and looked down.

"We have to give this a whirl", Steven told her, exhilarated at the thought of flight.

"What happens if I fall?" she asked rationally

"Don't worry. I'll catch you." He said with a sense of confidence worthy of Oliver Queen.

She let go of the fire escape, and they fell. She wrapped her arms around Steven tightly, and suddenly, they were flying.

They flew high above the skies of Metropolis, and Chloe felt liberated of all of the weight the future held. She felt free.

***

Chloe headed back to the Watchtower to meet Clark and Zatanna. All of her barriers and walls went back up, and she went back into a professional mode. She walked into one of the rooms when she saw Zatanna and Clark very close together.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked the pair

Clark said "No" at the same moment that Zatanna replied "Yes".

Regardless, she smiled at the two of them. "Well, you certainly seem to be in good spirits", Zatanna told her.

"Yeah, well I had a really good night for the first time in a while", Chloe said brightly.

"Which is more than I can say for the two of you", she added as she saw one of the screen filled with a magical spell. She looked at Clark, and he began to explain.

"The company that published the Warrior Angel took the idea from a friend of Zatanna's father." He said, getting down to business

"In order to exact some old world retribution, my father put a curse on the original comic, hoping to teach the publisher a lesson", Zatanna added

"The publisher never opened the comic book and neither did anyone else. Not until yesterday." Clark finished

Chloe opened the comic book, and flipped through the pages. She saw the name Steven Swift, and her eyes widened.

"Steven Swift. There isn't anything wrong with having another hero on the street. Right?" she asked. Steven was doing some real good in the city, and she was okay with him keeping his powers.

"There is when he's just a kid. And according to Zatanna's research," Clark said

"The curse should have turned Alec into a full grown hero", Zatanna finished for him.

Chloe turned around and looked at the monitor to see a little boy stealing a comic book. Every awkward sentence that Steven had said, every cover-up, it all made sense.

"Oh my god, he _is_ just a boy", Chloe realized.

"Chloe, if we can figure out what he looks like as an adult, we can use Watchtower to track him down." Clark told her

"And then I can slap him with a counter-curse, and we'll have him home by breakfast." Zatanna said

Chloe gave Zatanna the comic book back, and started to walk out of the room.

"Chloe?" Clark called behind her.

"That's fine, I just have a few things I have to look into. I'll let you know if I find anything." She called out as she left the Watchtower.

She pulled out her cell phone, and typed out a text message to Steven, saying that they needed to talk. Before she could press send, Steven flew down to her.

"I got a bunch of new games I think you might like. Or maybe we could order some pizza, or…what's wrong?" he asked the second that he felt something was different about Chloe

"I know your real secret. I know that you stole the cursed comic book and that's how you got your powers, and I know you're a lot younger than you look, Alec", she said, using his real name.

"It was just an accident. I had to look inside, and now I'm finally a hero! I won't go back." He said stubbornly

"My friend Zatanna can reverse the curse, okay? I just wanted to get to you first so that you wouldn't freak out. We're going to get you back to normal." She explained

"Normal? Normal means being wailed on at school every day. Normal means not having the power to defend myself. Do you have any idea how much my actual life sucked? This is everything I ever wanted, no one can ever hurt me again!"

"But this isn't real, Alec. Look, you're going to find a way to get through this, okay? That's what being a kid is all about. Now just calm down." She told him

"My name is not Alec. This is who I am now. And I won't go back- you can't make me! No one can."

Chloe took a deep breath as she saw the malice take over the once innocent eyes of Steven Swift. His eyes turned red, and she was reminded of the transformations that Davis used to undergo in becoming Doomsday.

She was becoming very scared very fast. She turned around as Steven Swift super-sped behind her. God, she wished that the Kryptonite would help her. But it wouldn't, and she doubted that her stun-gun would be of any use.

"I have a feeling that no one's going to push me around ever again." He took her into the air, and this time, Chloe felt terrified rather than liberated.

"Put me down!" she exclaimed

He put her down on a roof. "Tell me where your friend is, so I can stop her", he said cruelly.

"I don't want to hurt you, Chloe. But I will if I need to", he added.

"Think this through. You want to be a hero, right? This isn't something a hero would do!" She tried to snap him out of it, while backing up from him slowly.

"Lethal enforcers are way more interesting. They were big in the nineties." He said forcefully

"See, that's Alec talking. You're still in there. Think about your parents, Alec. You think that they would want their little boy to"

"-You don't know anything about my parents, and you don't know anything about me!" He told her.

Suddenly, Zatanna's counter-curse was in effect, and there was a bright red light in the shape of a pentagram surrounding Steven Swift.

The impact of the blast threw Chloe off of the roof. As she fell, she started to feel regret instantly. She should have called Oliver before she had done any of this. He could have come with her to check everything out at the very beginning.

She should have gotten some sort of feedback before she confronted Steven, hell even Clark or Zatanna would have done the job. And now she was going to die before she had the chance to explain herself.

She readied herself for the impact, but felt Clark jump up and catch her. They landed back onto the roof, and Clark let Chloe down. She looked at Alec, who appeared to be crying.

"You all right?" she asked

"It was just an accident" he said feebly. She took him into her arms, her own eyes wet with tears.

She stared into space. She could have died today, and there was only one person that she was thinking of. And it wasn't Jimmy or Clark.

***

Chloe opened the doors to the Watchtower. She was exhausted, and felt as if she had just wasted the day. She failed to recruit a hero, and wanted nothing more than to just sit on her computer chair and keep the city save while enjoying some Chinese food.

Instead, she found Oliver shooting an arrow at a nearby target. This wasn't new to her- Oliver had been spending a lot of time at the Watchtower recently, and she kept spare equipment at the Tower in case it was needed.

"Slow night?" she asked him. If nothing else, at least she could rely on him not only being a good guy, but actually being his own age.

"Figured I'd squeeze in some target practice", he said as he placed a new arrow in his bow. "And a single malt", he added, gesturing towards the bottle on the table.

"Did you bring enough for the rest of the class?" she asked, taking off her jacket as she walked towards the couch.

"Help yourself, professor." He said, as Chloe reached for a glass.

"Running a little light on allegory tonight. Bumpy day?" he asked, releasing an arrow.

She didn't bother looking back at the arrow. She trusted Oliver enough to know that he would never hit her.

She sat down on the couch "Not the smoothest." She put her jacket down, and set the bottle and glass on the table.

"Someone asked me when the last time I had a good time was", she said, uncorking the bottle and slipping out of her heels, "and I didn't have an answer." She poured a little bit of the dark liquid into her glass.

He looked back at her as she corked the bottle and reached for her glass. She took a sip.

"I don't think anybody can fault you for on edge Chloe. If anyone can relate, it's me. I get it", he said, loading his bow once more.

She smiled at the truth of that statement. "Yeah, you can."

"You know, sometimes you've got to take your fun", he said, pulling back on the bowstring. "Where you can get it", he released the string, letting another arrow fly.

"And sometimes", he said, reaching for another arrow and loading it into his bow, "it's right in front of your face."

He looked back at her again. "You just have to want to see it."

She smiled at him. Whenever Oliver was around, she wasn't afraid to smile.

He smiled back. "Come on", he said, gesturing towards the bow.

Chloe took a sip from her glass, and swallowed. She was about to use the same excuse that she did with Steven- how she had never used a bow before, that she would miss and look ridiculous.

But now, she wanted to take a chance. After a split second of hesitation, she set the glass down. She stood up, determined.

Barefoot, she padded over to him, and took the compound bow. She slowly pulled back the bowstring with her right hand. Oliver held her left hand in place, and stepped behind her.

"How do I know when to let go?" she asked, her voice faltering.

"It's all about your heart", he said, almost in a whisper. She looked at her hand when she felt his hand touching it.

"Just listen. Right there, in between the beats", he said, as his hand continued to caress hers. She looked at the target, and then again at Oliver's hand.

She realized it then- he had feelings for her too.

"That's when you let go", he told her.

She gulped as Oliver's hand left hers. She looked straight ahead at the target as she kept the bow steady.

She had two options- she could pretend that nothing had ever happened between the two of them, or she could move on and start something new with Oliver. Chloe chose to move on.

She felt the tension in her right arm build as she gathered all of her stress: Jimmy's death, her relationship with Lois faltering, Clark abandoning her, the need for Kryptonite weapons, fear over the future, her reluctance in starting a relationship with Oliver due to her own fear of loss. She aimed all of her stress at the target.

She felt her heart beating wildly as Oliver held her left arm steady. Out of everything in her life, he was the one constant, the one thing that she could always rely on, the one thing worth taking a chance on. It _was_ time to move on from one hero to another, except it wasn't Steven Swift. It was Ollie.

She looked right at the target, and let go. She let go of the arrow, and with it, her past as well.

She looked at the target, praying that the arrow hit it. "Bullseye", she whispered as she saw it. She turned around, and saw Oliver right there with her.

The space between then was closing fast. Feeling the adrenaline, she got on her toes and kissed him. The bow was abandoned along with her fears- she wasn't afraid to feel anymore. Not with him by her side.

He pulled away from her. "Do you trust me?" he asked, looking into her eyes.

She nodded. "I trust you", she answered confidently.

He leaned back down to kiss her, and she continued to trust him with everything that she had left.

***

A/N: I really hope that you've enjoyed this chapter. I really hope I lived up to everyone's expectations. Please review!


	12. Control

A/N: And I'm back! I am so sorry for the long delay, but I hope that this chapter makes up for it. It takes place during the episode Persuasion. Enjoy!

Chapter Eleven: Control

Chloe woke up in morning feeling reborn. She sat up from her bed at The Watchtower, and looked around her. She was blissfully happy for about 30 seconds before she realized that she was alone. Her clothes were in a trail leading downstairs, proof that last night happened. She groaned at her own stupidity- of course Oliver wouldn't stick around. He probably thought that she was insane by now.

She wrapped the sheets around her body and headed downstairs for some coffee. She walked down the stairs, and found a large bouquet of perfect red roses in a vase on a nearby side table. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she temporarily abandoned the idea of coffee. She walked over to the table and picked up the card.

_I'm sorry- I had to get to work early. Some problems have come up. I'm not ditching you, I promise. Call me when you wake up, okay?_

_ -O_

She put the card aside, and leaned down to smell the flowers. They were absolutely beautiful, but it was the small package behind the vase that caught her eye. She picked it up and saw Columbian coffee beans. She eagerly opened the package and sniffed the coffee beans. She closed her eyes as she smelled the coffee's perfection.

She walked over to the couch, where her handbag had been abandoned the previous night, and fished for her cell phone.

She called Oliver, and he picked up. _"Good morning, sunshine," _she heard Oliver say.

"I think you know me too well." Chloe told him, still looking at the coffee beans in her hand.

"_Ah, you found the coffee."_

She wanted to tell him that it was all too much, but the roses and coffee really made her smile. He made her feel appreciated.

"I found them alright, and the flowers too. Thank you."

"_Not a problem. Listen, I have to go to Star City later to take care of a mess or two."_

"Okay" Chloe said, looking down. The disappointment was evident in both her tone and face.

"_But I'm not leaving until 4:00"_, Oliver continued. _"So I was thinking that we could grab some lunch before I go. I know it's going to be awkward, but we need to talk about this."_

Chloe looked at the clock. It was 9:00. There was plenty of time to get work done beforehand, and he was right- they did need to talk. If only it weren't Valentine's Day. That would be make things easier.

"Okay, I can do lunch."

"_Great. I'll pick you up at 1:00?"_

"Sounds like a plan." She hung up the phone. She had a quick shower, got dressed, and made a pot of coffee from the new beans.

She fixed herself a cup, and walked over to her desk. Chloe was all business now. She unlocked a drawer, and took out a folder. She opened it, and stared at the small package inside of it.

The package contained the licenses and passports for the Kandorians, and she had been working for the past week to put discreet tracking chips inside of them. Clark may trust them, but she didn't. She didn't need to hear about how they were trying to be a part of society. Zod was leading them, and one of them kills her in the future- that was all Chloe needed to know.

She took a sip from her coffee. Everything was different now with Oliver, with herself. Maybe things could be different with Clark. She closed the folder. She was going to try and fix things with Clark. If he wanted things to be different, she would take out the tracking chips and trust him again. If not, they would stay in.

"Sorry I'm late", Chloe said, sitting down at the table.

Oliver smiled. "It's okay, I just got here."

She nodded. "How's work coming along?"

"Slowly. How's it going on your end?" Oliver asked

"It's going, busy city and all", Chloe answered vaguely.

The waiter came to their table before Oliver could say anything, and they ordered. When he left, Chloe stared at the lemon wedge in her water silently. This was getting awkward.

"I'm not sorry that it happened, Chloe." Oliver started

"Then what's next?" Chloe asked "a relationship? We both know that we're too…damaged for a functional relationship."

"If you're not ready for a relationship, then I'm not going to push you." Oliver told her

"It's not you, it's just…the complications of a relationship that I can't handle", she started to explain.

"What complications?" Oliver asked

She thought about Courtney, and how she told her that they would be able to deal with the complications when they came. She shook the idea out of her head.

"We work together. We depend on each other in order to survive. You depend on _me_ in order to survive. And if I'm biased and emotional then I won't be able to do that. I could lead you down the wrong path. Our lives are more important than the risk."

Oliver nodded as the waiter returned to the table with their food. They ate in silence.

"What is it that you want, exactly?" Oliver asked her, in between bites

Chloe took a large bite of her meal and thought hard while chewing. He made her feel, made her come alive again. She didn't want to lose that.

But on the other hand, she couldn't handle the strings that came with a full relationship- everything that he did right would remind her of Jimmy, and it wasn't fair to punish Oliver for being good.

And then there were the Kandorians. She needed to protect Oliver from them. Her own life was going to end very soon thanks to Ilia, but Oliver could still be saved. He _would_ be saved if she didn't let her emotions cloud her judgment.

"I don't want any strings. I don't want the complications of the press, Clark, or Lois. I just want…to be with you."

He nodded, and continued to eat his meal in silence.

"I care about you, Oliver." If nothing else, she needed him to know that.

"I know. Our lives come first though, right?" he clarified

"Yeah."

Chloe walked back into the Watchtower with a full stomach and a happy face. She was glad that she was on the same page with Oliver. She smiled as she walked past the roses on the side table. She placed her handbag on her desk, and was unbuttoning her coat when she suddenly heard a whooshing noise. It was Clark.

"Hey! I was going to ask you for the low-down on your V-day with Lois, but something about you being here with me tells me it didn't go over so well", she said cheerfully as she took off her coat and placed it beside her bag.

"Do you have the passports and ID cards ready?" he asked her in a formal tone.

Chloe's bright nature was immediately drained away. She felt like an idiot for hoping that she could change her current friendship with Clark. So much for fixing things with him and removing those tracking chips.

"Or we could get right down to business", she said, reaching for the folder that lay on her desk. She grabbed the package.

"All the material that you would ever need to escape your life and start a new one", she told him, handing him the package.

"Thanks Chloe, you're a life saver", Clark told her, turning to leave.

Clark thought that she was willingly helping the Kandorians blend in after knowing that one of them kills her in the future. Chloe wondered if Zod was nicer than he appeared, or if Clark was just plain stupid.

"If by that you mean sweet on the outside and empty on the middle, that's pretty much _exactly_ how I feel right now", she told him, leaning on the table.

He turned around. "Look, I realize that you're not on board with me helping the Kandorians."

"Yeah, well, you know how it is: you find out that one of them skewers you to death in the post apocalyptic future, you kind of lose interest." She said, putting a voice of strict professionalism once more.

"I know it looks like I may have overlooked some of their mistakes", he said, opening one of the passports and looking at it.

"Mistakes?" she asked him in disbelief "By mistakes, do you mean building a tower that can give them powers to take over the world?"

"I'm going to lead them to a better place", Clark said defiantly.

"The tower will be completed in two days", she said, standing up straight and turning to face him. "Granted they haven't got the satellites up and running to change the atmosphere, but come on Clark. We both know that one of them killed your father."

Clark just stared at her blankly. She took this as an indication to move on. "Look, maybe it would just be safer to send the Kandorians to the Phantom Zone."

Of all the things to do with the alien race, Chloe hoped that mentioning the Phantom Zone would help him see how blind he gets sometimes. They couldn't afford any mistakes after last time.

"I know you're saying that because you want to protect people. But right now, I want you to focus on watching my back", Clark said evenly.

His voice echoed in Chloe's ears. _I want you to focus on watching my back…watching my back…watching my back._

"Leave the rest of the planet to me", she heard Clark say, as he turned again and began to walk away.

"Clark." She called out to him, feeling the sudden need to stop him.

She couldn't control what came out of her mouth next. "I will protect you. No matter what it takes."

Clark brushed her off, and walked away.

Chloe felt a sudden urgency to help Clark fully integrate into his role as the Red-Blue Blur. She had no idea what she was thinking, but for the time being followed her instincts.

The only way that Clark would truly be saved was if he removed every single distraction from his life. The only way to do that was if she was free from distractions herself.

Chloe moved over to the flowers that were sitting innocently on the side table. Everything in her head was telling her to stop, but her body took over. She threw the flowers in the kitchen garbage, and emptied the vase of the water.

She was about to put the vase away, thinking that the action of throwing out flowers was enough. It was a nice crystal vase, and it just needed to be put away. Suddenly, all rational thinking was abandoned, and she felt her hands reach for the vase. She threw the vase on the floor blindly, only hearing the deafening sound of the glass crashing on the kitchen tiles.

She walked over to the Watchtower monitors, and let her fingers attack the keyboard. Her eyes were barely registering what was happening on the screen. She created firewall after firewall in order to protect Watchtower's information on Clark and the Justice League.

It wasn't until every single computer was fully protected that she activated the fuzzy black and white screens. Her cell phone rang. She picked it up without checking who was calling "Clark?" she asked

"_No, it's Oliver."_

"Oh. Do you need something?" she asked

"_What, I can't just call you up and ask how you're doing?"_

"Are you trying to waste my time?" she asked, looking out the door and tapping her feet impatiently

"_Chloe, what's going on?" _

She hated herself for being so mean to Oliver right now. Her voice was cold and cruel- this was not how she wanted things to be.

Her voice continued. "I have to save Clark. He needs my help."

"_Slow down. What happened?"_

"Have you been paying attention to anything that has been going on recently? Zod's towers are going to be finished in two days. Clark can't see how dangerous he is. I have to save him."

She heard Oliver let out a deep breath. She stared at the floor in guilt. Oliver was worried about her- he thought that something new had happened and that someone was in trouble. That wasn't the case here.

Chloe realized that she was staring at the floor, and that her feet had stopped tapping. For the first time in hours, she had control over her body, over her words.

"I need you to listen to me very carefully", she started.

"_Okay."_

Suddenly, her throat started to close up. It felt as if an invisible hand was compressing it, preventing her from breathing, from speaking.

"Oliver…save…me", she sputtered out desperately.

Her body took control once more. Her arm jerked to the side, and her phone flew out of her hand. When she was sure that Oliver had hung up the phone, her body moved over to the phone and picked it up. She wanted it in case Clark needed her.

She walked out of the building. Her distraction cleanup was over. Now, it was time to save Clark.

"Chloe? Chloe, what's happening?"

Oliver knew right away that something was wrong from the desperation in her voice. Something was wrong, and he had to fix it. Unfortunately, Chloe was in Metropolis- a 4 hour jet ride away if he left right now.

He frantically called Bart.

"I need you to make a quick run to Watchtower. Check to see if Chloe's okay", he told Bart.

"_What happened?"_ Bart asked him

"I don't know", Oliver answered.

"_Then why…?"_

"Less talking, more running. Can you just check on the Watchtower?"

He heard Bart super-speeding.

"Well?" Oliver asked impatiently

"_Chloe's not here, but the monitors are freaking out. The warning lights are flashing, and the screens are blurred out."_

"Do you think that she was kidnapped?"

"_No, there was no struggle, and you know that she would have put up a fight."_

"Okay", Oliver answered, relief evident on his face.

For a moment, there was silence as Bart looked around.

"_What did you __**do?**__" _Bart exclaimed

"What do you mean, what did _I_ do?" Oliver asked him

"_There's broken glass in the kitchen. _Someone _said something to her. God, we all leave for a little while…"_ Bart started mumbling.

"Bart, I honestly don't know what you're talking about. Can you fix the computers?"

Oliver heard clacking on the keyboards. _"No. Chloe did something to the computers. She doesn't want to be found."_

"Thanks, Bart. I'll call Emil. Maybe he'll be able to get the computers up and running again."

He hung up, and called Dr. Hamilton, who was on his way to the Watchtower. Emil's haste however, did nothing to settle his nerves. Something may have happened to affect Chloe's mood, but something about her was different. He decided to consult AC.

"_Hello?" _AC answered his phone

"AC, this is Oliver. I was just wondering- if there's broken glass in Watchtower's kitchen, what does that mean?"

"_There's broken glass in Chloe's kitchen?"_ AC asked him slowly

"Yes." Oliver was starting to feel stupid just asking.

"_What did you say to her?" AC asked him sternly _

"Nothing! I haven't done anything. What does it mean if there's broken glass?" Oliver was starting to get confused. He had never noticed broken glass in the kitchen before. He didn't like the fact that everyone knew something that he didn't.

"_Look, the last time that there was broken glass in the kitchen, we didn't really think much of it. It was just in a little pile on the floor, and we figured that Chloe was just too busy sorting things out to deal with life's little messes."_ AC started to explain

"But in reality…?" Oliver prompted

"_In reality, she was messed up because the day before the pile showed up, she saw the video feed of your suicide attempt. She didn't sleep for days because she felt this constant need to save you. It almost killed her."_

"But none of that has happened!" Oliver exclaimed angrily. "Everything is absolutely fine with me, everyone is _safe_. I have no idea why she would be like this!"

"_Then maybe it isn't you. Maybe she's just stressed out about something. For all I know, maybe Chloe has actually taken the time to deal with everything that has happened to her instead of just working herself to death. Or she could be hiding something from Clark. Her friendship with him isn't as stable as it used to be. Whatever happened, it's big."_

"So, how do I get her to open up to me about it?" Oliver asked

"_Give her time to work it through. I have to go."_

AC abruptly hung up the phone, as Oliver heard a voice call out "Mr. Queen, the jet is ready for takeoff now."

"Thank you", he politely told the pilot.

The pilot disappeared into the jet again. "Chloe, what are you keeping from me?" Oliver whispered to nobody in particular before following the pilot inside.

She opened the door of the Kent household. "Clark?" she called out, as she stepped inside

Suddenly, Lois' head perked up from underneath the table. "Hey Chloe!" she greeted

"Lois!" Chloe said, surprised. She instantly plastered a fake smile on her face. Lois wasn't important right now. She needed to find Clark, so that they could destroy the solar towers. Lois however, wouldn't understand the importance of any of this, so Chloe would need to entertain her ridiculousness for now.

"Well, it is amazing what four hours of scrubbing a kitchen can do. It simply sparkles!" Lois said, impressed with her own handiwork

Something was obviously very wrong with her cousin. Chloe looked her over- she had been cleaning the kitchen with a toothbrush. Lois never cleaned the apartment, and here she was scrubbing away. She was also wearing a seventies housewife dress, adorned with a pearl necklace.

"Okay, let's open a window. I think you may have gotten a contact high with that lemony fresh scent", Chloe said, not even bothering to close the front door. She rushed over to the window and opened it.

She looked at the box on the table. "Why is your vinyl collection here?" she asked curiously

"Drum roll, please. Chez Kent has a new resident."

Chloe raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"I moved in!" Lois said, triumphantly with a smile.

This was bad, very bad. Chloe had come here to eliminate Clark's distractions, and here Lois, number one on the list, was moving in?

"Great. We can have you moved back to the Talon and all packed up before the Sun's up", Chloe said. She put some of Lois' possessions that were scattered on the table back in the box.

"Look, I'm sorry that you're having a hard time with this, Chloe. But this love train has left the station." Lois told her, as Chloe crammed all of Lois' possessions in the box.

Chloe lifted the box from the table. "No, the love train has jumped the tracks. I've seen Clark in love before, and it always holds him back", she said, thinking of Lana.

Before Lana had left, she told Clark that she was just a distraction. She put on a power suit so that she could fight the big fight, and had absorbed dangerous amounts of Kryptonite in order to save people. She may have held Clark back at first, but now she was doing some real good in the world with the suit.

Chloe knew Lois, and she wasn't as strong as Lana was. She was going to distract Clark, make him blind to what was truly important. Lois was going to erase all of Clark's progress, and Chloe couldn't have that. This had to end, now.

"You know what?" Lois said taking the box from her hands and placing it back on the table. "It is just a little sad that the only way that you can get close to Clark right now is to play Mother Hen."

"Clark is a very private person", Chloe told Lois, reaching for the box once more. "And when the chips are down, everyone can see your cards."

"Hey!" Lois exclaimed, grabbing a picture of her and Clark together from the box.

"Clark knows that he can trust me", Lois said, pointing a finger at her.

"Just like the Blur?" Chloe inquired "When you were _secretly_ talking to him and you announced it to everyone on National Television?"

"I never planned for it to happen that way", Lois said guiltily.

Chloe placed the box on the table. She grabbed the picture frame that Lois was holding in her hands, and began to pull. Lois started to pull back.

"Alright Lois, look- as long as I've known you, you've always had to have the scoop. But when it comes to understanding the _real_ Clark, you are always going to be a second string!"

The struggle continued until the picture frame fell to the floor with a clash. Lois reached down to retrieve the frame, and picked off the broken glass. She looked at Chloe as if she had repeatedly kicked her in the stomach.

Lois looked as if she was about to cry any second now, but Chloe didn't care. She stared at the view of her pathetic cousin below her.

There was no way that Lois could fight alongside Clark, not if she was already beaten down by a destroyed picture frame.

"You know, this whole Martha Stewart makeover thing isn't fooling anyone", Chloe said, not even bothering to fight the Kryptonite.

Seeing Lois' blank stare, she continued. "Once Clark knows you, the real you underneath all of this Lois armor? He's going to see that you're just a scared little kid that runs away the second anything goes wrong."

"If you really love him, the best thing that you can do for Clark is _leave_ him." She finished ruthlessly

She walked away, and slammed the door behind her. She got in her car, and was about to start the engine when suddenly, her phone rang. It was Dinah.

"Hello?"

"_Chloe, it's me. I just wanted to let you know that the prototype came in this morning."_

Chloe let out a breath. Finally, someone wanted to talk about something relevant today. "Have you tested it out yet?"

"_Yeah, I have. It's really solid."_

"Is it good over a long distance?"

"_Long distance throwing, short distance throwing, close range combat, it can do it all."_

"Are they encased in lead, like we discussed?"

"_Yes, they are. Want me to order them in bulk?"_

"Do it. I'll move around some money so that nobody can tell."

"_Is Oliver okay with all of this?"_

"The last time that I checked, Oliver didn't work his ass off to get the team back together again. He's been okay with all of my decisions so far", Chloe said bitingly.

"_Chloe, is everything okay?"_

She felt guilty for verbally attacking Dinah and insulting Oliver, but there was nothing wrong with buying Kryptonite weapons. She was doing all of this to protect the world.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Besides, this is only a backup plan. At the end of the day, this is all to protect Clark. Just order the weapons, okay?"

Chloe hung up. She skimmed a bit of money off of the top of the funds of Oliver's individual companies, and put it into the Watchtower's funds. Even though this was a bold move, Chloe was okay with it. Humanity needed to be saved, and as long as the lead casing was there, Clark would be safe too.

She put her phone away, and started the car. She was heading over to the Daily Planet building. She was tired of sitting on the sidelines and simply keeping an eye on Tess Mercer. The woman knew something about how to shut down the satellites, and it was time for Chloe to find out exactly what that was.

Chloe crept in the dark newsroom until she had made it to Tess' office. She tried the handle and found that the door was locked. She searched her bag, and pulled out a lock pick.

While her fingers worked at the lock, Chloe's thoughts turned to Oliver. He was the one who had taught her how to pick locks after Icicle had attempted to eliminate the entirety of the Justice Society of America.

At the time, Chloe had laughed at him. She said that Clark just broke handles and walked in when a lock seemed to pose a threat. Oliver however, looked her over for a minute and told her that she had to learn to open her own doors. Oh, how true that was now.

Eventually, she was able to fully open the door. She dropped the lock pick back in her bag, and walked inside of Tess Mercer's office.

She closed the door behind her, and walked over to her desk. She turned on the computer, and started to search for file names.

Chloe didn't find any information on the satellites, but she did find something equally interesting: replications of the Watchtower video feeds. Tess knew that she was keeping a steady eye on her work, and on Zod.

She took out something that would jam the feed, and double checked Tess' data. "I can't believe you piggy-backed my cameras", she muttered in disbelief as she looked at feed after feed. Tess had replicated them _all_.

"And I can't believe that you actually managed to be of some use." Chloe looked up to see Tess standing near the now open door.

"Go ahead", Tess said as she walked into the room. "Hack yourself silly. You'll never crack my system."

"This isn't so much cracking as it is bleeding out. This is the digital equivalent to the Ebola Virus." Chloe held up the drive. She pressed a button, and it let out a hum as a green light ran from one side of the stick to the other.

"You take down my firewalls, and you'll be exposing Clark to much greater dangers than you can even imagine." Tess warned her

Chloe squinted slightly to check whether or not Tess was bluffing. She couldn't tell.

"I've done everything in my power to postpone this, but the day has finally come", Tess continued as she walked around the desk. "The tower is ready, it's linked up to the satellites- the countdown has started, and in t-minus eighteen hours, the atmosphere will turn red and the Kandorians will have their powers." She walked past Chloe, and turned around.

Chloe was silent. "But I've lost my faith in Zod. If Clark joins them, he can rule over all of the Kandorians, even Zod. But you and I _have_ to work together."

Chloe was trying her hardest not to laugh in her face. If Tess thought that she was going to manipulate Clark into joining the Kandorians, she had another thing coming. However, Chloe needed to have the upper hand.

"That's quite the offer", Chloe started, with just the right amount of hesitancy. "Let me think about it", she added in a shy tone.

She turned back to the computer for a moment, and when she could see Tess smiling in triumph in the corner of her eye, Chloe backhanded her across the face sharply.

Tess fell in shock, and Chloe pulled out a gun. She loaded it, and pointed it at Tess. "I'm sorry", Chloe said as Tess felt the blood on her lower lip. "But embracing the red sky definitely violates my 'no conspiring with baddies' policy."

Regardless of the fact that Chloe respected Tess for her cunning behavior and intelligence, she knew that Clark joining the Kandorians was not the right decision. Giving Clark to the enemy would not protect him.

Chloe reached for her digital Ebola Virus, and taking advantage of the distraction, Tess pushed the gun out of her hand. It flew to the other side of the room.

For a moment, the two shared a look. Suddenly, Tess shot up from the floor and the two women ran towards the other side of the room where the gun was sitting.

They clashed into each other, and fell on the glass table. The glass shattered on the floor. Chloe stretched her hand out for the gun, but Tess punched her back and pulled her hair. Chloe let out a cry of pain as Tess pushed her onto the floor.

Chloe heard her pulse racing as Tess punched her in the face one time, two times. Before she could be punched a third time, Chloe kicked her out of the way, and Tess collided with the items on her desk.

Chloe shot up from the floor, and temporarily disregarding the gun, she launched herself at the woman and tackled her. They hit the couch, and fell down when the couch toppled over. As they got up, Tess turned her around, and placed an arm around her throat.

Not being able to breathe, Chloe wanted to inflict as much pain as possible on Tess, anything to get her to release her arm. She slammed both of their bodies onto the wall, and heard Tess groan in pain as her head clashed with a light fixture.

Chloe tried to throw Tess over her shoulders, but anticipating her attack, Tess held on to her, and the two women flew over the couch. They stood up again, and Tess punched her in the face.

Chloe reached over and grabbed an empty glass container. Tess kicked the glass, and it shattered on the floor. Chloe spotted the gun's location, and attempted to run towards it. However, her efforts were in vain as she felt Tess grab her jacket, and pull her back down on the cluttered pile of glass. She winced as the shards stabbed her in the back.

She inhaled deeply as she got up, but she knew that she was too late. Tess had the gun, and had loaded it. Chloe saw the gun pointed at her, and her face contorted in fear.

"Should have aimed a little higher", Tess said with a smirk.

Chloe tried to catch her breath, but she knew what was about to happen. She braced herself for the bullet, but it never came. There was suddenly a gust of wind, and Tess was gone. Chloe turned around towards the door.

She knew what was happening. Clark never confronted Tess about anything. He had spent the entirety of the previous year doing absolutely nothing while she had warned him time and again that Tess was going to figure out his secret. Whatever was controlling her was controlling him too. And without a sense of control, Clark was going to kill.

Chloe ran over to her handbag, which had fallen to the floor, and dashed out of the Daily Planet. She knew exactly where Clark was going, and there was no time to waste.

She got in her car, and speeded until she saw the ring of fire. Clark and Tess were in the middle of the ring, and Chloe stopped her car. She got out, and ran over.

Clark had shoved Tess onto the ground, and Chloe searched her bag for the lead box she had started carrying only days prior. She really didn't want to do this, and waited for Clark to stop so that she wouldn't hurt him. He wasn't a killer.

"I'll save your world, Tess. Just not with you in it", she heard him say coldly. She saw the familiar fire in his eyes, and opened the box.

She pulled out the Kryptonite, and held it out towards Clark. It glowed in her hands, and she saw Clark's eyes flash before he fell to the ground. He gasped for breath, and looked at Tess in realization of what he had almost done.

Chloe's eyes flashed, and she suddenly felt permanently in control of her own body. She lowered her arm, and looked at Clark and Tess. She had used Kryptonite on Clark, and it saved Tess' life. Tess knew about Clark's weakness now, and would continue to be a threat.

Chloe realized that regardless of her messed up friendship with Clark, they still needed to look out for each other. Heroes need to take care of each other, and that was what she did. She put the Kryptonite back in the lead box, and turned away from Tess and Clark. Placing the box back where it belonged, she walked away from the scene and headed back to the Watchtower.

Chloe fixed the computers in no time. Then, she cleaned herself up, and headed towards the kitchen. She fixed herself a cup of coffee, and looked at the roses in the garbage sadly as she drank. Oliver didn't do anything to deserve this. He was just being nice, and she wasn't good enough for him. Hoping that nobody would see any of this, Chloe cleaned up the shattered glass on the kitchen floor, and took out the trash.

When she walked back into the Tower, she saw Clark standing at the monitors. She approached him.

"If you were really under command to protect me, why did you let me kill her?" he inquired

"Because sometimes, protecting you means protecting you from yourself", she told him softly.

She saw him stare off into space. "You're someone we all have to believe in", she continued. "Nothing can compromise that."

"Zod took matters into his own hands. He killed Jor-El's murderer. It was Ilia."

Chloe's mind was processing at a million miles a second at this news. "So now, Ilia can't slay me in the future like she's supposed to. This means that the future that we saw is changing."

"And there's only one way to be sure", Clark said before super-speeding out of the Watchtower.

Chloe sat down at her desk, and kicked off her shoes. "Are you going to come in, or are you going to lurk in the shadows all night?" she called out

Oliver strolled in. "That's funny, I _just_ got here", he said with a smile.

She smiled knowingly. "I'm sorry about earlier. It's been a long day."

"I'm sure it was infinitely more interesting than being in meetings all day", Oliver told her, taking a seat on the couch.

"Well, Clark had the ultimate power of persuasion today after being struck with Kryptonite dust."

"And let me guess, you got caught in the cross-hairs of the persuasion", he finished.

Chloe nodded. "I abandoned absolutely everything and put all of my energy into protecting Clark. I wanted to stop it, but I had no control over my body."

"No control? How?"

"I would be thinking something, but my body would only protect Clark. It prevented me from doing anything else. It was a mess", she sighed.

"Protecting Clark can't be _that_ much of a bad thing", Oliver reasoned.

"Yes it was. I shut down the Watchtower. I tried to break up Lois and Clark, which only led to Lois crying. Don't worry, I sent her apology text after apology text. I'm pretty sure that the Kryptonite had an effect on her too. You should have seen it- she was cleaning Clark's kitchen with a toothbrush", Chloe laughed.

"Oh, and Tess almost killed me", she finished casually, hoping that Oliver wouldn't pay attention because if he did, he would worry about her.

"Wait, Tess tried to do what?"

"Damn", Chloe muttered under her breath.

"I broke into her office at the Daily Planet, and tried to find out what she knew about the Solar Towers. I wanted to destroy the satellites, and I thought that she had information on how to do it. Instead, I found out that she was piggy-backing my video feeds. One thing led to another, and we ended up fighting in her office." She explained

"Are you okay?" Oliver gave her a quick look over

"I'll be fine. Couple of scratches, and I had to pull some glass out of my back, but I'm _okay_." Chloe assured him

"You had to pull glass out of your back", he repeated. "That is far from fine, Chloe."

"I'm fine. How was your trip?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Same old boring stuff", he said.

"Well, I don't know about that."

Oliver raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Clark told me that Emil was here earlier, trying to put back together the Watchtower. You called him, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did." Oliver said simply

She remembered fighting the Kryptonite in order to reach out to him. She looked down at her abandoned heels. He knew that there was something wrong earlier. She was scared of how well he knew her.

"You tried to break up Lois and Clark?" he asked, breaking the silence

"You don't understand. Clark in love is always a disaster. I watched for years as he ignored his destiny and chased Lana. There's a part of me that really _did_ want to separate them, but only because Lois is a distraction to him." She explained

"Then why apologize to Lois later?"

"Because things are already shaky between us, and I want to fix that. I told that she would always be a second string when it came to Clark. And even though I believe that, it doesn't _have_ to be that way."

Suddenly, the monitors started flashing. Chloe darted up, and saw the picture of the solar towers changing. She pressed a couple of buttons, and pulled up a live news feed of the towers burning.

Oliver got up and stood behind her. "He finally did it."

Together, they watched the screen as Zod's solar towers burned to the ground.


	13. Virtues

A/N: I must have written and rewritten this chapter four or five times. Thankfully, I'm finally satisfied with it. Thank you for being so patient!

Oh, and on a sidenote, I also wrote on a one-shot. It contains Clark's thoughts during the Chlollie reunion at Watchtower during the Checkmate episode. So if you're interested, that's always there.

Here's the next chapter- it takes place during the Conspiracy episode. Please review: feedback is always appreciated.

Chapter Twelve: Virtues

Chloe was tapping away on her laptop. She decided to work from the Talon today- Lois was chasing down a lead, so there was no way to be interrupted or for her work to be questioned. The door suddenly opened, and Oliver walked in. She smiled at the sight of him.

"Just the interruption I was hoping for" she said, temporarily abandoning her work and walking to the door to greet him.

Something was off- she could tell. He silently closed the door behind him and started looking around the apartment. She was about to question him when he pressed a couple of buttons on her laptop and turned up the volume. A loud song started playing.

He walked over to her with a fierce look in his eyes and she leaned close to him. "I like where this is going Romeo, but you might want to put on some softer music", she said, leaning over for a kiss.

"It's not a booty-call."

His words stung and she stepped back, trying to process this. After everything they had been through together: the development of their friendship and their work together in the League, it meant nothing right now. Right now, all she was to him now was a booty-call.

She blinked twice. Something had happened- she _knew _Oliver. He would never take advantage of their relationship. Whatever this was, it had changed his perspective of her. And that scared her.

"I think Tess Mercer might be listening. She's up to something that involves you", he explained. She looked at him questioningly. She should have expected Tess to respond to their fight. What was it this time?

"She came by my office today with evidence that somebody's been siphoning money from my company." She felt her stomach sink- it was about the Kryptonite weapons, and the money. She knew she should have told him, but didn't know how.

Dinah had been telling her throughout the entire development process. Chloe should have listened to her. And now she couldn't even defend herself. All of this was a Plan B- that was it.

"You're stealing from me." He said simply, looking at her with contempt. She looked at him guiltily. It wasn't selfish, what she had done. But on paper, it looked that way.

"It's not like that." She told him, trying to find some way to make the situation better.

"Right. A lot of women have used me for my money. I never expected it from you." He held hatred in his eyes and bitterness in his words. He had never looked at her like that. When Davis had taken him hostage, he looked at her with disappointment.

She remembered what he had said to her that day: _When did you become one of the bad guys, huh?_

She wasn't going to lie to Oliver the way that she had lied to Clark back then. She wasn't one of the bad guys- far from that.

"I wasn't stealing from you, Oliver. I was borrowing the cash and buying insurance for the entire planet", she told him.

She was about to explain everything when the song concluded. She remembered the possibility that Tess had the apartment bugged and reached for a piece of paper and a pen. _Let me show you_, she wrote.

He nodded, and proceeded to follow her. She reached for his hand, but he shoved both hands in his pockets and continued to walk.

They got in her car, and she drove them to the site. It was a long journey to the site, but they travelled in silence. It was dark when they arrived. She parked the car. They walked, and she showed him the Kryptonite weapon container. She opened the doors, and they turned on their flashlights.

Chloe paused outside of the container as Oliver walked in and looked around. There were sealed liquid Kryptonite containers and suitcases everywhere. Oliver picked up a dagger and shone light on it.

"Kryptonite weapons. This is what you've been spending all of my money on? Something that could kill Clark?" He asked in disbelief

"They're to protect all of us, including Clark- from Zod and all those other Kandorians." She clarified, stepping into the container.

"I don't understand. I thought you were helping set them all up with licenses and passports."

"All the IDs I gave Clark have computer tracking chips on them", she admitted.

He turned around and looked at her as if she were a monster. Clark was one of her oldest friends, and even though the two weren't on the best of terms right now, Chloe was casually lying to him.

Oliver was also in the dark about this entire thing, and that made matters worse. After all that he had been through over the past months, after she had brought him back, she still kept this from him.

"I want to keep an eye on the visitors from another planet" he heard her say.

"Well, welcome to 1984- the Sullivan edition." He said wryly, taking another look around.

"Look Ollie, I'm sorry, okay? But I didn't have a choice. Our friend's moral compass has gotten us lost more than once. I'm not okay with just sitting back and trusting Clark again."

He looked at her and saw the insecurity, but it didn't make him feel better. It didn't help that Chloe walked away before he could say anything else. He walked out of the container too, and they closed the doors and drove back. They parted ways without another word, and Oliver drove back to the Clock Tower.

He felt betrayed. They promised each other a long time ago that there would be honesty in their relationship, and she broke that promise.

He would have given her the money if she had asked him- they discussed the Kryptonite weapons before, but after they talked about them the first time, he wasn't sure if they were a good idea. The topic wasn't brought up again, so he didn't give it any more thought.

It was too late to discuss it now- the weapons were already created. Now, he had a decision to make- was he going to support Chloe, or was he going to destroy the weapons?

Oliver hated that she had two sides of her these days- there was the witty, playful, laughing Chloe. She was the woman that cleaned his cuts and helped him investigate the JSA.

She was always concerned for Clark, and the general safety of the team. She made him think on his toes, and made him smile. Most importantly, she trusted him with her life.

And then, there was cold, ruthless Chloe. She is the one who leads the resistance team in the future, and kills Mercy without remorse. In the future, she takes over completely.

She does the right thing, but does not trust anyone, and has no restrictions. It wasn't laughing Chloe that hid the weapons from him, it was merciless Chloe. And he was going to prevent ruthless Chloe from taking over _his_ Chloe.

He called in a personal favor and had the stock-pile of Kryptonite weapons and had them scattered to different locations around the globe. He needed to protect Chloe from herself, and that was exactly what he did.

Chloe couldn't sleep. She couldn't concentrate on her work, and sat aimlessly at her desk in front of her laptop, which was displaying a screensaver rather than its usual blueprints or video-feeds.

She was sipping on a glass of red wine, thinking about the past. Coffee wasn't going to help her, not now.

She wondered how she had transformed from the reporter digging for a story on meteor freaks to the cold navigator trapping herself in her tower. The only person that knew exactly what she was going through right now was Lana, and she wasn't even here anymore. Nobody could help her- there was nobody left.

***Flashback***

_Chloe watched from a corner as Lana entered the Isis Foundation. Lana saw that the computer screens showed only static now and Chloe stepped into plain view._

"_I didn't realize Big Sister was watching", she said as Lana turned around._

"_I guess Lex cut me off", Lana rationalized._

"_It wasn't Lex." Chloe told her_

"_After everything he's done, I have a right to protect myself", Lana said._

_Chloe walked forward. "It would have been nice to know the impressive operation you're running."_

_Regardless of her closer relationship to Clark, she was Lana's best friend too. Granted, Chloe kept his secret from her every day. But she would have thought that Lana would have come to her with something this big. _

"_I'm sorry I lied. I didn't think that you would understand if you saw the whole picture."_

"_Well, it's in crystal-clear HD now", Chloe smiled. "Isis seemed to make a lot of sense when I thought you were just out to help people", she motioned towards the logo that was on the wall. _

"_In textbook talk, Isis is the goddess of love and life and healing. She even marched to the ends of the Earth to help jump-start the man she loved. I want Clark to have that kind of loyalty in his life. But I'm just not sure it's from you", she continued. _

"_I would do __**anything**__ for Clark", Lana said with a tone of finality. _

"_Even kill." Chloe clarified. "What a lucky guy." _

"_What the textbook left out is that Isis is also the goddess of the underworld. She's responsible for bringing the great god Ra to his knees", Chloe told her._

"_You believe that I would do that to Clark", Lana said, following her friend's logic._

"_Not intentionally", Chloe said, shaking her head. "But I realize now that you're capable of it."_

_She waited for Lana to respond with a retort. There was none. "You should just know that I'm not going to let that happen", Chloe finished determinedly, walking away._

***End of Flashback***

Chloe got up from the chair, and walked over to the bathroom. She stared at herself in the mirror. The constant look of formality was plastered on her face, her curls and makeup perfect. She didn't used to curl her hair or apply makeup regularly- when did that become a habit?

It was all a mask, her appearance- it was all an attempt to make it seem as if everything was okay. Things were far from okay. Lines were blurring very quickly, and she didn't know how she was going to redefine them.

She remembered Lionel Luther approaching her at the Daily Planet shortly before his death. Rather than listening to what he was saying, she told him to seek absolution at a church. At the time, she had truly believed that it was the only thing that could save him.

It had been years since Chloe had believed in religion. Her faith in a higher power had quickly dissolved when she discovered that her best friend had almost god-like abilities. And now, she was just as bad as the Luthors were. _Was it too late for her to be saved?_

She took off her heels, and turned on the shower head, letting the water run freely. She didn't even bother to remove her clothing- she stepped into the shower, and let the water strike her face.

Her makeup washed away, her hair was wet, and her clothes were ruined with the water, but Chloe still didn't feel any different. She didn't feel cleansed, or as carefree as she did years ago. Defeated, she slid down onto the floor of the shower, and let the water hit her.

Oliver wanted to avoid Chloe so that he could further process what had just happened, but he could never stay away from her for very long. He found himself driving over to the Watchtower, and letting himself inside.

He took off his jacket, and was about to head over to the computers, when he heard the shower running. Chloe showered in the mornings, and it was ten o'clock at night. It was unusual, but not crazy, so Oliver waited for her to come out of the shower.

He waited for 40 minutes until he started to worry. He knocked on the bathroom door. "Chloe? Is everything okay?"

There was no response. He opened the door, and walked inside. He saw the image of her body at the floor of the shower through the shower door.

She looked drained, as if she had been fighting a losing battle for years. Her makeup had washed off, and her wet hair had stuck to the side of her face.

That was when he had realized why there was broken glass in the kitchen a week ago. Why Bart had such an intense reaction when he saw it, and why AC had reacted the same.

Keeping the weapons a secret, borrowing money from his company- it was disturbing her soul.

Now that everything was out in the open, she had finally seen who she had become. And she needed him right now.

He silently took off his shoes and socks. He opened the shower door, and stepped inside.

He sat down beside her, and reached over to turn off the water.

She grabbed his arm, stopping him. "I can't get rid of it", she said helplessly.

"What are you trying to wash away?" he asked, letting the water fall

"What I've become."

"How so?" he asked her

"I've changed Oliver, and not necessarily in a good way. I'm different from the girl you met years ago who was just trying to help Clark."

"You've grown." He told her

"I may have more of a grasp on my role in the world, but emotionally? I've been going on a downward spiral for years now. I'm just…not a good person anymore."

"You've been helping people. That doesn't make you a bad person."

"I would love to think that way. But I have _betrayed_ everyone." She told him

He sent her a questioning glance.

"When I got the league back together months ago, I promised everyone that this time would be different- that we would be a team. I truly believed that. But now, here we are: it's been months since the Roulette mission, and the only person that I've been in contact with other than you is Dinah. And even that's just business."

"I'm sure you didn't expect them to drop their old lifestyles." Oliver reasoned

She shook her head. "I didn't, but I believed that there could be some sort of a balance. We worked as a team to help you, and worked together to bring everyone back. And in the end, it didn't matter." She finished with bitterness in her tone.

"I don't think that's true. You went to different parts of the country to bring them back. During your time with the team, you forged a special bond. No amount of distance can change that", Oliver told her, remembering Bart and AC.

"It doesn't help the fact that I broke my promises. I promised Victor and AC that they would _always_ have a vote- that I would _always_ include them. And I didn't do that. I created Kryptonite weapons without even asking for their opinions. I don't even think that they know that the Kandorians are a threat. That's a pretty huge thing to keep from them."

"Communication is a two way street. They didn't call or pop in either."

"That just means that they assumed that I would contact them if something was wrong. I failed to do even that. And it's more than just communication. It's emotional involvement. Canary went through Chinese water torture, and I never asked about the psych evaluation. My own cousin went to a psychiatrist to get her dreams analyzed, and what did I do? I paid off the psychiatrist so that Lois wouldn't connect the Blur to Clark."

"You were just trying to protect him." Oliver explained

"I stole money from you! We both know that that's not okay!"

He simply held her in his arms. He stretched an arm over their heads and turned the water off. She didn't stop him.

They sat there for a moment, their clothing still drenched from the water.

"I understand if you hate me because of what I did. If you want to leave right now, I won't blame you." Chloe told him

"I'm not going to leave."

"I don't blame him, you know." she whispered

"Who?" Oliver asked

"Clark. I don't blame him for shutting me out. For leaving."

"Chloe, you have every reason to be angry with him. It's okay", Oliver told her.

"No, I don't. I ran away from my problems when I left with Davis. My marriage was destroyed and Clark was busy with his job at the Daily Planet with Lois. I hated feeling like the third wheel, feeling…powerless. I left because I wanted to protect him, but Davis made me feel needed again. It's selfish, I know."

"The cameras and tracking devices- they were a part of that too, weren't they?" he asked

She nodded. "I put the cameras around the barn right after Clark left. I had no job, no money, no family, and no team. I hoped that Clark would drop by the Barn to pick something up. Even if he super-sped in and out, I wanted to see him for that millisecond. Knowing that he was still around, and that he was safe-"

"It meant that he was still in your life, and that you still had a place in it", he finished.

"Yes. And when he came back, I wasn't entirely convinced that it was for good. I was so afraid that he would leave again that I didn't even think to turn the cameras off until Clark told me to. That's not normal. He drifted away from me, but I could have pulled him closer. A real friend would have gone to the Barn in person, not look through video feeds", she explained.

"The tracking devices were a good idea, Chloe. I want you to know that."

"They were put on the team for the same reasons. I just wanted to keep you guys safe while you were separated from each other. And it would have been easy to just ask permission, but I didn't. Just like how I didn't ask for your permission before I went ahead and purchased Kryptonite weapons in bulk."

Oliver shook his head. "You don't need my permission to do anything. I just want to know what's going on, to be more than just a financial backer."

"You _are_ more than just the League's financial backer", she said firmly. "I'll take another loan out or I'll get a second job, you can destroy the weapons- whatever it takes to make this right."

He reached over and put a wet lock of her hair behind her ear. "It's okay, Chloe. I have enough money. It's the principle of the matter."

"I don't _ever_ want you to think that you're just a financial backer because of me. I'm crossing lines that shouldn't be crossed. I don't think I can do everything by myself anymore. I need my family by my side."

He wanted to look into her eyes and tell her that she wasn't alone- that he would always be there. Since childhood, she had been used to complete independence. He knew that she wouldn't believe him.

He got up, and stepped out of the shower. He turned around to face her, and held out his hand.

"Let's bring them home."

She took his hand, and he pulled her out of the shower, away from her self-loathing.

They changed into dry clothes, and Chloe dried her hair.

"Not that I don't appreciate the rescuing of this young damsel in distress, Ollie, I do. But how exactly are you going to get the entire team here?" She asked, confused

He mentally sighed. For such an independent woman, Chloe underestimated herself time after time.

"First of all, you are the farthest thing from a damsel in distress." He started.

She turned around to face a monitor in an attempt to hide her blushing face and smile. It had been the first time in weeks that she had truly smiled like this.

"Second of all," he continued. "Now that we're getting all of our secrets out in the open, there's something that you should know."

She turned around as he walked over to the bookcase and removed a copy of _War and Peace_. The vacancy of the book had revealed the silver button that he had pushed months ago when he found her running herself ragged. He pressed the button and stepped back as the bookcase opened.

He walked around the treadmill and sat down at a small desk. He reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out a tiny gold key. He unlocked a drawer and pulled it open. He picked up a small flash drive and a device containing a single button.

"What is this?" she asked him

"You told me ages ago that the team needed structure. That we needed a universal trouble alert."

"So you created one, and didn't tell me because…?" she inquired

"Because I didn't want you to feel as if I was intruding", he said nervously. He waited for her reaction. She smiled at him.

"How does it work?"

They stepped out of the room and closed the bookcase. Oliver approached the nearest computer, and inserted the flash drive, and started typing.

"It's a beacon. It lets everyone on the team know that there's trouble at the home-base. It makes the tracking devices get warm." He said.

She stared at the screen.

"Not hot enough to scorch flesh or anything", he clarified quickly. "Just warm enough for someone to notice a difference from typical Miami heat."

She nodded. "And then what?"

"And then the Impulse Express picks everyone up and brings them here after making sure that there isn't an immediate emergency. I would use the jet, but it's just not fast enough. Or well hidden, for that matter."

He handed her the device for the button. "So Watchtower, do you want to see your family again?"

"Now?" she asked. "I don't know. They can't just drop everything that they're doing and come here. I can't handle that much power. I don't want to invade their lives." She started rambling.

He walked behind her and held her shoulders in his hands.

"Remember what you said about communication? It's a two way street. You can do this, Chloe."

She took a deep breath and pressed the button.


	14. Patience

A/N: So it's been awhile! First of all, thank you thank you thank you for the reviews. Please keep it up- tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, or just stop by to say that you read it. Reviews are basically the only indication that I have of people actually reading, and feedback is great.

Oh, and here's question for you guys: I only have 6 episodes left as far as the season is concerned. The fic will probably end after the Salvation episode. So my question is: Would you like to see a sequel focusing on my version of Season 10?

Anyway, here's the thirteenth chapter- it takes place during the Escape episode. And it's extra long to make up for the absence, so I really hope that you like it.

Chapter Thirteen: Time

A screen popped up on every monitor, and a voice sounded. "Activating home beacon."

Suddenly, there was a flash of red and yellow. Impulse had arrived. He looked around the Watchtower. Everything seemed to be in order, and Chloe and Oliver were smiling at him.

"I'll be right back", he said.

He sped away, and returned with AC, and then Victor. He disappeared one last time and came back with Dinah. After setting her down on the floor, he sped around the kitchen and quickly made himself a sandwich. He sat down at the couch and put his feet up at the table as he ate.

"So, what's new?" Bart asked Chloe and Oliver after gulping down his food

"There's something that we need to fill you in on", Oliver said.

"I filled in Dinah weeks ago when she was in town, but I didn't tell anybody else." Chloe started. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep anything a secret from you. It's just that it's huge. Not exactly something I can just send out in an e-mail."

"We're here now, Chloe." AC told her. "So what's going on?"

"Do you guys remember Lois' weird dream, and the psychotherapist that we paid off to plant the idea that Clark Kent and the Blur were two separate people?" She asked the group.

The group nodded. "Good times", Bart called out.

"Well, turns out that the dreams were actually memories of the future. We were right- Lois used the Legion ring." Chloe said

"Tess Mercer found out and kidnapped her. She hooked Lois up to a machine that extracted her memories. We sent Clark into the memories to see what would happen, and after we pulled him out, Dr. Hamilton erased the memories. Lois has no recollection of what happened." Oliver continued.

"The problem is the future that Lois saw", Dinah spoke up, walking over to join Chloe. "It's a Kandorian apocalypse. They turn the sun's rays red, rendering Clark powerless and giving themselves the power. In the future, we're all dead."

Bart put his feet down, and stood up. "We die? All of us?"

Chloe nodded. "Clark destroyed the satellites that they were creating- the one that was supposed to turn the atmosphere red, but Zod isn't going to stop. He'll find a way to get powers; it's only a matter of when."

"So what's the plan?" Victor asked

"Clark's trying a peaceful approach. He's making friends with the Kandorians, and hoping that they'll integrate into society." Oliver told him

"And if that doesn't work? We'll be sitting ducks", AC said.

"If Clark thinks that he can handle it, then he can handle it", Bart told AC.

"Guys…" Dinah said, trying to restore order.

"Clark's spreading himself too thin. He'll fail." Victor said

"Guys…" Oliver warned

"Clark's come through time and again. We need to trust him", Bart said.

"Yeah, because that was such a great idea last year." Victor scoffed.

"_Enough._" Chloe said firmly.

Everyone stopped their bickering and looked at her.

"First of all, quit arguing- we can't turn on each other, not in the face of a possible alien apocalypse. So for now, we're just going to have to trust Clark. But we _do_ have a backup plan. Dinah and I designed Kryptonite weapons that Oliver is keeping safe. If Clark fails and the Kandorians have their powers, then we'll be ready."

"In the meantime, we all have to look out for each other", Oliver added the group. "So I think that we should all keep in contact with Watchtower while we're on patrol, in case something goes wrong."

The group nodded.

"This is pretty heavy stuff to deal with on your own. You two seriously need a vacation." Bart said

Chloe and Oliver looked at each other for a moment and started laughing. There was always something going on- the idea of getting away from all of their responsibilities was simply laughable.

Chloe was the first to regain her composure. The idea may have been comical, but Bart had a point. She had been stuck in the Watchtower for so long that it was blurring her moral lines. Maybe a vacation would help.

"You know Bart, you might be right. Oliver and I need to get away for a little while. But we're needed here. We can't just drop our responsibilities."

"Now, wait just a second", AC started. "You have a laptop, Chloe. You can take your work wherever you want."

Chloe was starting to get nervous. The idea of bringing her laptop with her wasn't incredibly far-fetched. "It would be limited", she countered.

"You're plenty capable", Victor chimed in.

"I can't just go on vacation. I get in trouble enough with the Green Arrow and the Blur in the same city."

"Then take Oliver with you", Dinah told her. "He needs the break as much as you do, and this way, you'll still be safe."

Chloe raised an eyebrow. Dinah had a soft spot for Oliver- why was she encouraging this?

"What about the Green Arrow? Anyone interested in taking up archery and wearing green leather?" She asked

"Make plans, Chloe. I'll cover Oliver's patrol while you guys are out of town", Bart told her.

"What if something happens to you? You're not indestructible, Bart."

She looked at Oliver for a little bit of assistance.

"You know what? I think it's a good idea, Chloe." Oliver said

She looked at him nervously. "But…"

"Slightest of hitches, and we'll know, won't we Impulse?" he asked

Bart nodded.

"Okay…" Chloe thought for a moment, to see how she was going to pull this off. "Well, it's Thursday right now. It's going to take me about a week to make arrangements. I'll do that, and Bart, if you're still feeling up to it on Wednesday, I'll send you the address of the hotel. The slightest glitch, and you're picking us up, you hear me?" she asked Bart, giving him a sharp poke.

He nodded.

"It's going to be fine", Dinah assured her.

"Alright, meeting adjourned, I guess."

Impulse took everyone back to their respective places before he too took off.

The absence of the team's pressure made Chloe realize what she had just agreed to.

"A vacation?" She asked Oliver

"Why not?"

"Because it's completely insane."

"When was the last time you went on a completely stress-free vacation?"

She thought for a moment. "Okay. Good point. But how are we going to do all of that, and still keep everything a secret from the press, not to mention our two favorite Daily Planet reporters?"

"Plan everything at your apartment- you know as well as I do that Clark doesn't necessarily need a key to this place. He won't speed to the apartment for fear of getting caught by Lois."

"And since Lois spends all her time at the Planet these days anyway…"

"It's perfect", he finished her sentence for her.

It was Tuesday, and Oliver was sure that deciding to go on vacation was some sort of curse. Between work and patrol, he hardly had time to sleep. The end of the day eventually came along, and fortunately, his work load had lessened significantly.

He headed over to his car, and confirmed with Chloe via text message that Lois was not at the Talon. He started the drive to Smallville. His week may have been near impossible so far, but he hadn't seen Chloe since the League meeting almost a week prior. She had probably spent the entire week trying to fit vacation planning in with her Watchtower duties, leading to sleep deprivation.

He sighed to himself, and grabbed her some coffee on his way to the Talon. At least she was at her apartment these days. Getting out of the Watchtower was good for her, and hopefully if he had his way, they would be out of Metropolis by the end of the week.

He parked his car nearby, and climbed the flight of stairs before knocking on the apartment door, and holding the coffee behind his back. She opened the door, and let him in.

"Hey, stranger", she greeted as he stepped inside.

He gave her a quick look-over. The circles under her eyes had confirmed his suspicions, but other than that, she was okay. There were no cuts, no bruises, and no broken bones.

She closed the door, and gave the air a small sniff. "You brought me coffee, didn't you?"

He revealed the coffee behind his back, but held it out of her reach. "Only if you promise to get 8 hours of sleep later."

She sighed, and looked down at her feet for a moment. Apparently, she was hoping that he wouldn't notice.

"Chloe…"

"I promise", she told him.

He studied her face closely. She was telling the truth.

"Good." He said, offering her the coffee.

She took it and set it down beside her laptop. "Angel", she said, giving him a hug.

She sat back down at the table, and started browsing for vacation spots. He pulled up a chair.

"Let me just get rid of some of Lois' things", he muttered, clearing some space on the floor before setting the chair beside her.

She gave him a questioning look. "What?" he asked her as he sat down

"How did you know that those were Lois' clothes?"

"Context clues"

"Oh really? How so?"

He shrugged. "I know you." He picked up one of Lois' blouses. "You see this?"

She nodded.

"This barely covers anything. You're more of a professional person. Not that I would be complaining if you wore this, but it _would_ show some battle wounds. Lois would be suspicious, and Clark would feel guilty."

She picked up a dark blue thong, and held it up to him. "What about this?" she asked mischievously

"Green's more your color."

She blushed as she dropped it and focused her attention on her computer.

He also looked at the screen. "?" he asked with a chuckle

"Well, I haven't picked out a good location yet."

"We don't need a website. Let's just hop in the jet and go to Paris."

"I decided that we're only going away for the weekend. Any longer than that isn't fair to the League. Which means no international trips; I don't want to spend more time travelling than relaxing."

"How about somewhere local?" He asked

"Where can we go without someone recognizing you?"

"We're doomed", he said bluntly.

"Not necessarily. We just need a place where they won't recognize you by face. We'll use aliases so they won't recognize you by name."

"Aliases? What do you have in mind?"

She stared at his olive green dress shirt, and tugged at the collar slightly. "Mr. and Mrs. Green"

So, if he wasn't Oliver Queen, acting CEO of Queen Industries, and she wasn't Chloe Sullivan, the Watchtower of the Justice League, she would be okay with being married to him. Good to know.

He smiled at her. "Perfect."

She sipped her coffee, and continued to tap away at the computer. He watched her work until her fingers stopped moving.

"Hey, what about this? The McDougal Inn. Little family owned place a couple hours away."

"How popular is it?" Oliver asked

"Let's talk about how _unpopular_ it is. It's surrounded by a forest, and is a little Scottish Bed and Breakfast. Definitely not a tourist hot-spot- the society pages won't even think about looking for you there. Even if someone did recognize you, the press would never believe them."

"Sounds good."

"I'm printing out a brochure", she said, hitting a button on her laptop. The printer suddenly sprang to life, and spat out a couple of pages. Chloe walked over to retrieve her print-out, and handed it to him.

He skimmed the pages. "Looks like we're headed to the McDougal Inn this weekend."

It was Wednesday, and Clark Kent was on his way to work after a morning of patrolling as the Blur. He was driving for the purpose of maintaining his reporter cover, when suddenly his phone rang.

It was Lois. She asked him to pick up her flash drive from the Talon, since it contained a story that she had been working on. Luckily, he was passing the Talon as she called, and pulled in. He opened the door to the apartment, and started looking around for the small flash drive. There was clothing scattered everywhere, and sheets of paper covering every table.

He found the flash drive, and was about to leave the apartment when a paper caught his eye. It was lying on a side-table. Clark picked it up, and started reading. It was a brochure for the McDougal Inn- maybe Lois wanted to go there, but was just too shy to ask him. It would make sense; their relationship was new, and a weekend away at a local bed and breakfast would definitely suggest taking everything to the next level.

Thankfully, his recent training with Jor-El had helped him control his powers. Lois was in no danger. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, and made a reservation.

After he made a last minute reservation for this coming weekend, he called John Jones, and asked him to take over patrol as the Blur while he was gone. He was thankful that Jones agreed- this was kind of a spontaneous decision, and was completely not like him. Hopefully, Lois would be pleasantly surprised.

After hanging up with John Jones, he called Chloe. She was probably working at the Watchtower. It was a quick run from the Talon, but he was already late.

She picked up fairly quickly.

"_Hello?"_

"Chloe, it's me. Listen, you're not doing anything special this weekend, are you?"

"_No, just a quiet weekend at home."_

"Good. Lois and I are getting away from Metropolis for the weekend, and I wanted to make sure that someone will be around while we're gone."

"_Getting away, huh? You guys aren't eloping on me, are you?"_ She laughed

"No, just escaping from work for a little bit. Is that okay?"

"_Clark, it's fine. Have fun!"_

He hung up. Maybe this would work out, after all.

"Who was that?" Bart asked

"It was Clark. Looks like he's escaping with Lois for the weekend." Chloe answered. She gave Oliver a look.

"I didn't say anything", he assured her.

"Well it's good that he won't be around when I cover Oliver's patrol. I don't want to lie to him." Bart said

"I'm more worried about you", Chloe told him. "You're sure you can cover Oliver's patrol? You can still back out, you know."

"Don't worry, Chloe. I'll be fine." He gave her a quick hug, and sped away.

"I should actually head to the Daily Planet", she told Oliver. "When Clark tells Lois that they're going out of town for the weekend, she's going to want me around to help her shop and pack."

"Ah, the joys of being a woman."

"I know", she groaned as she shut down the last computer. "I'll see you later?"

He nodded.

Lois was at her desk when Chloe arrived.

"Hey!" Lois greeted her cousin "I was just about to call you!"

"How come?" Chloe asked, pretending to be oblivious

"Clark's taking me for a weekend getaway this weekend. I know, it's completely spontaneous and unlike him. Help me pack?"

"What, no shopping beforehand?"

"Of course we're going shopping beforehand! Smallville hasn't given me a single clue as to where we're headed- I have to cover all of the necessary bases."

"Obviously", Chloe said with a hint of sarcasm. "So what are we doing waiting around here? Let's go." She turned to leave

"Chloe, hang on a second. I want you to meet someone."

She turned around, and raised her eyebrows at her cousin. Lois was _not_ trying to set her up with somebody from the Daily Planet.

Lois pulled a confused man aside. "Robert, this is my cousin Chloe."

"Hi", the man said nervously, shaking her hand.

"Chloe, this is Robert. He's a junior reporter- lots of promise."

"Thank you Miss Lane", he replied automatically.

"You're welcome", she replied sweetly. Chloe, I'll be waiting in the car when you're ready."

Lois turned around, and climbed up the stairs. Chloe glared at her back as she disappeared. She sighed to herself, and turned to face Robert. She might as well be civil to this guy; he too was a victim of Lois Lane's match-making.

"So, you're a junior reporter?" she asked politely

"Yeah, the Planet hired me fresh out of college."

"Journalism major?"

"4 years at Met U", he responded cheerfully. "Now I'm just trying to make a difference in the world one article at a time."

She saw her past in this guy, back when exposing meteor freaks was the most important thing.

"_You're right. I've seen enough now to see that sooner or later, they all…snap. So, from now on, it's open season on the infected. What do you say we clean up this town, partner?"_

Jimmy said that to her at one point, after nearly freezing to death by a meteor-infected woman. And it had been her own belief for years. But not anymore.

She wanted to enlighten this man, to tell him that an article wasn't going to do any real good in the world. But then, he would ask for an explanation as to why not, and that was something that she could not do.

She looked up at him and smiled. "It was nice to meet you, Robert." Chloe climbed the stairs, and left the Daily Planet building.

She took out her keys, and got in her car. "I cannot _believe_ you tried to set me up with someone. Again."

Lois was looking at her eagerly. "Come on, it couldn't have been _that_ bad."

"It was a nice gesture on your part, Lo, but I'm honestly not interested right now."

Chloe started the car, and pulled out of the parking lot.

"I'm sorry, it's just that Clark and I are going away for the weekend…" Lois started

"-and you didn't want to leave poor Chloe alone. I get it, I do. But you don't have to worry about me."

"I'm your big cousin. It's in my nature to worry."

"Isn't that the big _sister's_ job? Why aren't you this concerned about Lucy?"

Lois scowled. "Lucy and I don't get along, you know that."

"Didn't you say that you got a hold of her number under the influence of the wacky Valentine's Day powder?"

"Yeah, the General gave it to me. To be honest, I was thinking about just throwing it out."

"She's been in hiding for years, and now you know how to reach her. Why don't you try to make amends?"

Lois was quiet for a moment. "Maybe I'll hold onto her number, so that I can one day."

Bart hated to wait. He figured that since he was staying in Metropolis for the weekend, he had better get a feel for the local areas- food joints included. He sped over on Thursday, and decided to take a look around.

He found a promising Mexican place, and after getting his hands on a couple of burritos, he headed over to the line to pay for his food.

He thought about Clark, Oliver, and Chloe as he waited. The three were so different now from when he met them years ago. Clark and Chloe used to have an unshakable friendship, and Oliver was the outsider of the trio. And now, it was Chloe and Oliver with the unshakable bond with Clark as the outsider.

They had changed his life. Before he met Clark and Oliver, he was just a pick-pocketing kid trying to survive. Clark gave him a strong moral code, and Oliver prevented him from wasting his powers. After Doomsday, he had been so afraid that he would slip back into his old habits. It took drastic measures in order to stay honest.

He had hope that someday, Oliver would find him again. It was Chloe who tracked him down, with her smile and a reinstated sense of purpose. She gave him his powers back, and brought the team back together- Bart would never forget that. If that meant that he died within the year under her leadership, then so be it.

Bart paid for his food and left the restaurant. He was about to head over to a dark alleyway where he could speed off unnoticed, when he heard someone call out his name.

He turned around and saw Clark Kent staring at him. Clark wasn't wearing his usual flannel and jeans, but a button down shirt and dress pants. That was something different.

"Hey Clark", he greeted.

"What are you doing in Metropolis?"

"Well you know me, can't stay in one place for too long."

Clark nodded. "How long are you staying?"

"Only for a couple of days."

"Are you here for a mission?" Clark asked suspiciously

"No, I'm not. Why, is there something that you need help with?"

Bart hoped that Clark would tell him about the Kandorians. That he would ask for help. But there was no such luck.

"Nothing new here." Clark checked his watch. "Listen, I would love to catch up this weekend, but I'm going out of town. And I'm actually running a little late, so I'm going to have to get going. But hey, if you have the chance, you should visit Chloe. I'm sure she would appreciate the visit."

So Clark didn't know about Chloe's weekend plans. And Bart wasn't going to tell him- that was Chloe's decision to make. He just smiled at Clark. "Yeah, maybe I will pay Chloe a visit. See you around."

He turned away from him and sped away.

Oliver had just finished loading the entirety of the luggage into Chloe's car. They were going away for the weekend- Friday was finally here, and his work day was over. He closed the trunk, and climbed up the Watchtower stairs.

He opened the doors, and found Chloe shutting down the last computer.

"Ready to go?" he asked

She stood back, and looked around. Everything seemed to be in order. All that was needed now was for her to walk out the double doors.

She turned to face him. "Yeah, it just feels weird. Leaving."

He nodded. "And it feels weird knowing that I'm not going to be patrolling tonight. But getting out of Metropolis, stepping out of our lives for a little while is going to be good."

She felt her confidence coming back to her. She quickly grabbed her purse and walked out. "Let's go."

"Let's go", he repeated, following her.

They got in the car, and Oliver started the car. He pulled out, and began to drive. "So, where do I go from here?" he asked

"And here I thought I was taking a small break from being Watchtower", she laughed.

"Hey, you're the one who made the reservations. And you're the passenger, so you have to be my personal Mapquest for now."

She reached into her bag and pulled out her laptop. She opened it and turned it on.

"Make a right turn here."

Two coffee stops and three house later, it was night. Clark called so that Chloe could walk him through his last patrol.

It was a rarity for Watchtower to follow Clark; however, with both the Green Arrow and the Blur away for the weekend Chloe became concerned for the safety of Metropolis. Clark was also uneasy about leaving Metropolis behind, so when Chloe insisted on guiding him on his patrol, he agreed.

"Okay Clark, we have a carjacking over at Samson Street".

"_On my way"_, he said. She heard him speed over.

"Bad day for that guy", she laughed. "Now, we have a mugging on Halpert", she said, eyeing the blip on her screen.

"_Got him."_

"Nice one", she told him. "And just around the corner, there's a"

"_-done."_ He said

"Wow. That was fast, even for you." She checked the blueprints of the city. Everything was clear. "Okay cowboy, looks like we're all clear on the western front. For now." She said, closing her laptop.

"_I'm handing over the reins to John Jones. He's going to patrol while I'm out of the town with Lois."_

She nodded, knowing that he couldn't hear her. "Don't worry, I think that Metropolis can handle one weekend without the Blur", she said more for her own benefit than for Clark's.

"Now the real question is can the Blur handle two nights with Lois?" she asked him, smiling

"_I think I'm up to the challenge. But I have my cell, so if anything comes up…"_

"Clark, it's one weekend. Enjoy it.", she said, interrupting him.

"_I heard Bart's in town. You two should hang out."_

"Thank you for the not-so-subtle contribution to the Chloe Sullivan case. But Lois already made a kind donation in your name", she told him, remembering Robert the junior reporter.

"I'm hanging up now", she said.

"_Bye Chloe."_

"Have fun."

"_You too."_

Chloe took off the Bluetooth headset. She looked at Oliver, and smiled. She didn't need Lois or Clark to set her up with someone. She was good.

"You should learn to take your own advice", Oliver told her.

"I just might. The Inn's right there", she pointed to a sign, as she put away her laptop.

Oliver pulled into the small parking lot, and the two stepped outside of the car. He opened the trunk, and started to take out the luggage. Chloe helped him, and they walked over to the door, where a man took their things.

"If you could just sign the guestbook, we can get you all squared away", he said.

They walked over to the front desk, and greeted the owner of the inn before Chloe took the pen and signed _Mr. and Mrs. Green_. She dropped the pen in the book.

"I have your room already, Mrs. Green. Except you didn't say what size bed you prefer", the woman said.

She looked at Oliver, and said, "Make it a queen."

"Okay", the woman said. "Welcome to the McDougal Inn." She held out the key to room 8.

Chloe grabbed it. She looked at Oliver, and saw that he was also reaching out for the key.

"I got it", she told Oliver, who had an arm wrapped around her. He looked at her and smiled.

They headed upstairs to room 8, where they found their luggage.

"I'm going to take a quick shower", Oliver said as Chloe kicked off her heels and sat on the bed.

"Okay", she said as she pulled out her laptop. "I'm just going to make sure that Bart's doing okay on his patrol." She slipped her headset back over her ear and turned it on.

Oliver kissed her on the cheek before heading over to the bathroom. He showered and changed into a bathrobe. Chloe was still checking over the city's grids, police reports, and video footage.

"It's been a long journey. Maybe you should take a shower", he told her as he sat next to her.

"Alright, keep an eye on the screen okay? If a blip pops up, call Impulse and tell him where to go."

"Okay."

She looked up at him before getting out of the bed. "Nice robe", she said with a smirk as she walked over to the bathroom

He grinned. "There's one for you too."

He stared at the screen as he heard the bathroom door close.

Oliver continued to stare at the screen, bored since there was no activity. Suddenly, there was an orange blip, indicating that there was a robbery in progress. He called

Bart. "Impulse, there is a robbery on the corner of Thompson and Third."

"_I'm on it, Arrow."_ He replied

He heard Impulse super-speeding to the scene. _"Got it. Where's Watchtower?"_

"Taking a shower. She hasn't done anything but work since she's been here."

"_She's just having a little bit of trouble being away from everything. She'll loosen up in time."_

Oliver stared at the closed bathroom door. "I know. I just don't want her to regret getting out of the Watchtower."

"_You can't let that happen. You know how she gets when she isolates herself. And we've all tried to get her out of it- she doesn't listen to us. You, though- you, she'll listen to."_

"Wow, no pressure there."

"_It'll be fine. Are there any more emergencies?"_

He studied the screen. It was blip-free. "No, nothing."

"_Everything's clear here. I'm going to go crash at the Watchtower. It's going to be fine. Just be patient."_

Just then, the bathroom door opened and Chloe walked into the room. "Okay, thanks. We'll check in tomorrow."

Oliver disconnected the headset, and turned off the laptop.

"Who was that? What happened?" she asked

"There as a little robbery going on, Impulse took care of it. Everything is fine in Metropolis", he said, wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her to his lap.

"Bart's safe?"

He nodded.

She kissed him softly. "Thank you for being so patient with me today. I know I've been a little crazy."

"Well that's okay. We're here now."

He lowered his head, and pressed his lips onto hers. His hands fingered through her golden curls as she pushed him onto the bed.

Suddenly, there was a screeching noise, and Chloe froze.

"What was that?" she asked

"I have no idea", he answered as she got up. He wanted to just ignore the sound, but at the same time, he knew that Chloe would not be able to get her mind off of the sound until she knew what it was. He got up when the power suddenly went out. "Let's go check it out."

"Okay."

They opened the door and he went down the stairs first. Oliver took Chloe's hand when he had reached the bottom.

"Everyone go back to bed", the owner called out.

The lights flickered back on, and they suddenly found themselves in front of Lois and Clark.

Oliver looked at the couple, and let go of Chloe's hand in surprise. He knew that Lois and Clark were going out of town for a getaway of their own, but what were the chances that they were going to be in the same hotel?

"Twist", he heard Lois say.

He knew that although there was a power struggle over the keys, Chloe would be looking to him for a reaction. He was honestly okay with Lois and Clark finding out about them- their reactions would be interesting, but it was nothing that they couldn't handle. He shrugged his shoulders, and Chloe followed suit.

He realized that they were wearing matching bath-robes, and started looking at his attire. Chloe wanted them to be in a no-strings relationship, and they had the appearance of a couple. And right now, Oliver was okay with that.

They turned around guiltily, and headed back to their rooms quietly. They didn't say a word until the door was closed and locked.

"Wow." Chloe let out

"Yeah."

"Lois. And. Clark." She accented each word

"The two people we were trying to keep this from."

"Lois is going to write a story about this."

"She won't. You won't let her."

"Clark's going to kill you."

"I'm actually thankful for those Kryptonite weapons right about now."

Chloe let out a deep breath. "What are we going to do about this?" she asked, letting her rational side take over as she sat down on the bed

"Well, we knew that they were going to find out eventually", he said, walking over to her. "It'll be hard to explain, but we'll deal with it then."

She groaned. "I don't want to go to sleep, because then we'll have to deal with this when we bump into them tomorrow."

"I can help with that."

"Hmmm, you can, can't you?"

It was past noon the next day before Chloe and Oliver got out of bed and showered.

"I can't remember the last time I slept so well" she said as she finished curling her hair.

"Or slept so many hours", he agreed as he tied his shoelaces.

"And here's another Brightside- it's so late that there's a good chance that Lois and Clark won't even be downstairs."

"Coffee?" he asked

"Coffee."

"I remember a time when I didn't know about your coffee addiction", he said as Chloe opened the door.

"Really?" she asked, surprised

"No."

She started to laugh, but the laughter was suddenly cut short. "Oh God", she said as she looked down to see Lois and Clark eating.

Oliver followed her vision. "You know what we could do? We could pretend not to see them."

Chloe chuckled as Lois spotted the couple and beckoned for them to come over. "Oh, come on, Ollie. Throw up the white flag. It's Lois- she makes Susan B. Anthony look like a quitter."

He waved at Lois and followed Chloe downstairs.

"Hey, guys!" Lois exclaimed when they reached the bottom of the staircase. "Come here, sit with us!"

Suddenly, Lois' table for two became a table for four as waiters put out chairs and linked two tables together.

They walked over to the table.

"Quiet weekend at home, huh?" Clark asked Chloe

"Trust me, we had no idea the two of you would be here", Chloe said as Lois pulled her down in a chair. No longer being able to sit next to Chloe, Oliver awkwardly sat next to Clark.

"And we had no idea that there was even a 'you two'. Which I think is perfect; I think fate has brought us together."

Oliver looked at his empty plate nervously. They were taking things slow- he didn't need Lois to ruin it or make Chloe uncomfortable by talking about fate.

"Well, it's uh, little less fate actually", he said.

"More fame." Chloe finished.

"I like fame", he said gratefully.

"This inn is so far off the beaten path that even the society pages couldn't find Star City's most eligible bachelor here", she explained.

"You mean, ex-bachelor", Lois corrected her.

Said ex-bachelor wished that Lois would stop making him the center of discussion. It was embarrassing, and he knew that Chloe was getting nervous. This was probably exactly why she didn't want anything to be out in the open.

"Okay, enough about that", Chloe said, trying to change the topic. "How did _you_ guys manage to find the road less travelled?"

"Well, I found the brochure for the inn at the apartment. I figured that Lois wanted to come here", Clark explained.

"What brochure?" Lois asked

"That wasn't Lois' brochure Clark", Chloe said. "That was mine."

Clark shot Oliver a look. Oliver was trying not to laugh at the irony of this situation. He suggested that Chloe plan everything at the Talon for the very purpose of Clark not finding out where they were going. So much for that.

"How was I supposed to know that Oliver…" Clark started

"You weren't", Chloe quickly interrupted. "That's the point."

He gave Oliver another piercing look. He was starting to feel unsafe.

"Don't look at me. I learned a long time ago not to assume what belongs to who in that apartment. You've got to use context clues."

Oliver didn't have to look at Chloe to know the image that was going through her mind right now. Him picking up a blue thong and telling her that green was a better color on her. He watched as Chloe looked down at her plate uncomfortably.

"Speaking of clues", Lois said, obviously not getting the inside joke, "let's talk about Mr. Green", she glanced at Oliver "in the bedroom, with my cousin."

"There it is!" Oliver said loudly, in order to prevent Clark from saying anything.

"You know Lois, I think they came here for brunch", Clark said.

"Good point." She said

Oliver looked up from his plate. Were they letting him off the hook?

"Look Chloe, there's food."

Chloe quickly nodded, and together the girls left the table. He watched as Lois pulled her away from the breakfast buffet and into another room. He was left alone with Clark now.

"Little jellies", Oliver said awkwardly, pointing out the small pastries on the table.

There was a long period of silence. He couldn't leave, and at the same time, Clark didn't seem very keen on starting up a conversation. He watched as Clark took a sip from his teacup. After knowing Chloe for a decade, he was still drinking _tea?_

Oliver let out a breath. Looked like starting up a conversation was his job now.

"So", he started, trying to find a good topic for small talk. "You uh, save any orphans recently? Old ladies, maybe? Anything like that?"

"I did stop a bank robbery", Clark answered.

"Yeah?" he asked enthusiastically. "That's nice, that's fun stuff."

"Thanks."

There was a short silence. "How about you? Anything new?"

So Clark was hoping for a full on divulgence of information on his new relationship with Chloe. Not going to happen.

"No. No, no. Just uh…oh, well, there's a new compound bow that I'm trying out. Yeah, seems pretty good. We'll see how that works."

Clark scowled. "I know it's not my place to say anything"

"-then don't say anything." Oliver told him quickly.

"But- after- everything- Chloe's- been- through- I- don't- want- to- see- her- get-hurt." Clark said one quick breath, staring straight ahead.

"Well, that's good." He said. Clark honestly didn't believe that anything had changed in his friendship with Chloe, did he? He was that blind. And to top it off, Clark jumped to the conclusion that he would hurt her. "You know, she's stronger than you think she is, though", he told Clark, thinking of everything that Chloe had to deal with on her own.

"Yeah, but one of her strengths is giving people what they need and sacrificing what she wants."

"Well, how do you know this isn't what she wants?" he asked

"Just don't take her for granted." Clark told him

Oliver nodded. He got up from the table, and told Clark that he was going to find Chloe. He went off in the direction that she was dragged away earlier, but not before fixing her a large cup of coffee to go.

He walked around with the coffee in his hand, and found Chloe and Lois chatting animatedly. At least it wasn't awkward between them anymore.

"Thought you would need this", he said as he approached them.

Chloe sprang up, and reached for it. She took a large sip. "Thank god."

"And I was right", he answered. He could feel Lois' eyes on him, and it was starting to make him feel uncomfortable again.

Chloe glanced at him, Lois, and then him again. Oliver could tell that she really wanted to stick around and catch up with Lois for the time being.

"I'm actually going to take a look around. It doesn't seem as if we saw too much last night, and it has a nice feel to it."

Lois smiled as Chloe answered. "Sounds like a good idea."

He was about to turn around to leave when she stopped him.

"Hey, is everything okay between you and Clark?"

"Awkward, but it'll be fine. Hey, how about I meet you back here in a couple of hours so we can grab an early dinner?"

"Sure."

"Okay, I'll see you then", he said. "Lois", he acknowledged before leaving.

He walked around the small inn aimlessly with Clark's words in his head. _Just don't take her for granted._ The truth was that Oliver took Chloe for granted every single day just by continuing this no-strings relationship. And that wasn't right.

He stepped into the small gift shop, and looked around. Usually, his first instinct would have been to find the most expensive piece of jewelry that he could get his hands on and leaving, but Oliver found himself quickly walking past that section of the store.

He was in there for what felt like hours, examining every single item. He looked at every coffee mug, sweatshirt, and pen. He smelled assorted perfumes, creams, and bath soaps.

The truth of the matter was that none of this was right for Chloe. She had enough coffee mugs, and would preferred business clothing to sweatshirts. If he purchased the pen, she would raise an eyebrow and show him the Watchtower computers in a sarcastic attempt to introduce him to the new millennium. Oliver was a little reluctant to purchase the bath soaps- he loved the way that Chloe smelled.

He was frustrated, to the point of leaving the store without purchasing anything. Things were going great right now- he shouldn't let Clark make him doubt himself. He put down the bath soaps and let out a sigh.

"Mr. Green, can I help you with something?"

He turned around to see the owner smiling at him. Maybe she could actually help. "Actually, yeah. I'm looking for something special."

"For Mrs. Green?" she asked

"Yeah." He almost forgot that he was supposed to be an alias.

"Well, we have a good collection of jewelry."

"I'm looking for something not so…cliché." He explained

"I have just the thing."

She walked to the other side of the store, and handed him a small box. Oliver opened it, and saw a silver spoon, with the words _McDougal Inn_ written on the handle in an elegant cursive.

"My parents used to run this inn. When I became old enough to take over, they retired."

"Okay…"

"They started to travel- Europe, Asia, you name it. And wherever they go, they pick up a spoon for their collection", she started.

"We haven't been together for very long", Oliver said.

She smiled at him knowingly. "That may be the case, but I saw last night the way you look at her. It's the same way that my father looks at my mother."

"Why spoons? Why not collectable knives or forks?" he asked, trying to change the topic

"Because forks and knives have sharp edges- they can betray you, even unintentionally. Spoons? They're smooth all around. But they're still sharp enough to cut; enough to get through the bad things with patience and a little bit of pressure."

Oliver nodded. He wanted to things to be like that. "I'll take it."

He paid for the spoon, and had it gift-wrapped. After putting it on the bed in their room, he went to meet Chloe for dinner.

The door to the hotel room opened, and a slightly tipsy Chloe walked in, Oliver hot on her tail. They were able to enjoy dinner without mentioning work once, and he had a great time.

"I must say, your taste in wine is almost as good as your taste in women", Chloe said, walking backwards into the room.

They might have also shared a bottle of wine at dinner, but that was only to help her loosen up.

"Why, thank you", he said, running his hands up and down her back. "You have a little bit of Pinot right there, actually." He touched her lips with a finger before leaning down and kissing her. "Well, look at that- I got it", he said, now focusing on her neck.

She let out a carefree laugh, and pulled away from him. He gave her a questioning look, and followed her stare- she found the present.

She cleared her throat. "Unless Christmas came early this year, that better not have my name on it."

"Oh. Well, maybe you've just been especially good this year." He kept hold of her hand as he reached down, and grabbed the gift from the bed.

He put the present in her hand. "Maybe a guy shouldn't take someone like you for granted."

"I didn't think you were, Ollie", she said as she looked at the bottom of the box. She saw the McDougal Inn sticker.

"Clark said something, didn't he?"

So what if he did? "It's just a gift."

"No. No-no, it's a slippery slope", she said, putting the gift back on the bed and walking to the other side of the room. "Just-because gifts are _never_ just because. There's always some unspoken part, like 'I'm sorry', or 'I feel very strongly about you'. Both of which are complicated.

He shook his head slightly, feeling hurt. It was apparently a crime to feel very strongly about her. He wanted to tell her everything; that he wanted to feel like part of a spoon, but right now all he could feel was something pricking him.

"Oliver, I wanted to keep things simple, you know? With no strings…or ribbons."

She grabbed her coat, and headed for the door.

"Wait, hold on, where are you going?" he asked

"I'm going for a walk", she said with a look that clearly told him not to stop her. "When I come back, can we just hit the reset button and play our favorite indoor game again?"

She left before he could even respond. He sat down on the bed next to the present, and held his head in his hands. He let out a deep breath. This was a mess.

After about a minute of replaying what had just happened in his head and regretting ruining an otherwise nice evening with a spoon, he held the present in his hand. He had half a mind to just return the stupid thing. Instead, he reached for his cell phone and called Bart. He would know what to do.

"_Hello?"_

"I did a bad thing." Oliver said quickly.

"_What happened?"_

"Well…" he realized that Bart didn't even know what was going on between him and Chloe. And Bart had an eye for Chloe. Maybe he should have called AC.

"_Just say it."_

"I'm sleeping with Chloe", he blurted out.

"_You're __**what?**__"_

"I'm sleeping with Watchtower. Have been for a couple of months now. We're supposed to be in a no-strings relationship. Her idea, not mine."

"_And you did something that suggested otherwise?"_

Damn, he was good. "Well, let me start at the beginning."

"_Good idea."_

"Remember when you, me, and Chloe were at the Watchtower finalizing the details for this weekend, and Chloe got a phone call from Clark, saying that he was getting away with Lois for the weekend too?"

"_Mmhmm"_

"Well, they're _here_. And they found us here. Together."

"_Wow, that must have been awkward."_

Oliver let out a laugh. "You have no idea. Well anyway, Chloe and Lois left me alone with Clark, and he told me not to take her for granted. So I went out and got her a present."

"_What was it?"_

"Doesn't matter", Oliver mumbled, looking at the unopened present in his hand. "She didn't even open it."

"_Did she say why?"_

"She didn't want to complicate things with ribbons. I'm considering just returning the thing."

"_Be patient with her- she was just a little overwhelmed. Give her some time to come around, and then you can give her the present."_

Oliver sighed. "Okay. I guess I should go look for her."

"_Yes, you should."_

"Is everything okay in Metropolis?"

"_Everything's fine. You guys worry too much."_

"Okay, I'll check in later."

He hung up the phone, and put the present back on the bed. Right now, he was going to go find Chloe. He needed to fix things. And it had been a while since she went on a walk. She wasn't back yet, and he was getting worried.

He walked out of the hotel room, and was about to go downstairs when he saw Lois.

"Hey." He looked at the ridiculous outfit that she was wearing and tried hard not to laugh. "You got any bagpipes to go with that outfit there, lassie?"

She just smiled at him.

"I mean, you guys are having a little fun. I think it's cute" he said. "Hey, listen, I'm looking for Chloe. She took a walk a while ago, she hasn't returned, and I'm getting a little worried about her."

"I was just with her, actually", Lois told him.

"You were? Okay."

She didn't respond. So Chloe went to Lois for some quality venting time, and now Lois was mad at him. "Oh, right, okay, lay it on me", he said, bracing for impact.

"Why don't I just take you to see Chloe instead?" Lois asked. "You will never win a woman's heart by waiting for her to come to you."

Lois was acting weird, but why not? "Okay. You lead the way."

She grabbed her coat, and they left the inn. He followed her as they went deep into the forest.

"So, what happened when you were with Chloe, anyway?" Oliver asked casually. "I mean, what did you guys talk about?"

"We didn't talk, really. I walked in on her having a shower with Clark."

Oliver was thankful that it was so dark. He didn't want Lois to see his jaw locking or his hand curling up into a fist. He just continued to walk silently behind her.

Ten minutes passed, and they were still walking in the forest. He realized that he had no idea where he was, and worried about Chloe. Maybe she was lost.

"Who told Chloe to walk in the woods anyway? Was it Hansel and Gretel, do you suppose?"

"It's not much farther", Lois told him.

"Well, I hope she left a trail of breadcrumbs, because if she didn't, we might never find our way out of here."

Chloe probably did know how to get back. She was smart like that. She was so smart.

"Oh, _I'll_ be leaving these woods." Suddenly, Lois grabbed him and forcefully pushed him up against a tree. "But you won't."

She lifted him up, and threw him down on the earth. Oliver watched her eyes flash. So Lois was possessed. And whatever possessed her was probably responsible for the weird noise last night.

She picked him up, and threw him again. As he struggled to get up, he saw a blinding flash of light. She turned into a monster.

"I was denied vengeance, just as I was denied power. But now I shall have both", the monster said in a Scottish accent.

"Well, I'm all about the girl power, really", he said as he got up. "But I've got to be honest with you, I don't see you breaking through any glass ceilings with that hair."

Oliver covered his ears as she let out a piercing scream. It sounded like a magnified version of the Canary Cry that Dinah used. He tried to resist it, but it was no use. He fell down to his knees, and then all was black.

Oliver woke up in his hotel room alone. His suitcase was already packed, and a note was left on the nightstand. It was short and to the point. _Eat breakfast and meet me in the front when you're ready to go._

He checked the date: it was Sunday. It was time to go back home.

Chloe left him the bare necessities, and after getting ready he packed those too. He went down the stairs, and checked out at the desk.

He opened the front door, and was about to walk outside when he saw Chloe sitting there with her gift. He stayed back so that she wouldn't see him.

He smiled slightly as he saw her untying the ribbon slowly. She was almost there when she suddenly stopped, and stashed the present away in her bag. So she wasn't ready for the strings and ribbons just yet. But Bart was right- if Oliver was just a little patient with her, she would be ready soon.

He came out into plain view. "It's a spoon."

She looked at him in confusion.

"I bought you a spoon- one of those little…" he started. He wanted to tell her the entire story, but she wasn't ready for that yet. "People collect them. I thought about getting you some of those little decorative soaps- but ultimately, you didn't really need either one of them, did you?"

"Well, I don't know about that", she said standing up and walking towards him. "I mean, I'm more partial to sporks myself, but a girl can never have too many…spoons?"

"Yeah, well I never should have wrapped up that Pandora's box to begin with, and second guessed myself. Or us, and from now on I won't."

"Maybe we should just say that next time, you won't take advice about relationships from Clark Kent."

"You know, speaking of Clark", he began. "For future reference- strictly for environmental purposes, the next time you want to take a shower with someone, Chloe? You can just ask me." He told her with a laugh and a smile

"I can't remember blacking out, and I _wish_ I could forget waking up."

So Chloe was possessed too. But that didn't make everything better.

"Really?" he asked "Well, it couldn't have been that bad, right? I mean, wasn't there a time when you would have given just about anything to stare at the farmer's tan and all its glory, I'm guessing?"

"That was a long time ago. Like in a Smallville far, far away."

But Oliver could tell that there was more to that. There always was.

"I mean, okay, yeah. I did love Clark. A lot. And I waited for years for him to see that. To see- me. But even with his x-ray vision, he never did. And more than that, I just wanted someone who would _get _me." She explained. He nodded.

"And as good as Clark is, he's never going to be _that_ person." She continued

"Which is fine, really", she assured him. "I mean, those wounds healed over a thousand super-saves ago. Now, there are just scars."

He smiled slightly. They both had scars- literal and otherwise. "It's Clark's loss", he whispered.

"What about your loss?" she asked, walking to the railing, and leaning against it. "I'm sure Lois didn't have to drag you into the woods kicking and screaming."

"Uh, it's…" he started, walking over to her. "Funny thing about scars- they're always there." Which was the truth. A part of him would always have feelings for Lois. And as Clark's girlfriend and Chloe's cousin, Lois was always going to be around. But that didn't mean that he was in love with her anymore.

He watched Chloe as she looked down at her feet in disappointment. She was trying to be brave.

"Doesn't mean that they haven't healed", he finished.

She quickly looked at him again and smiled.

"Sometimes, they can be kind of cute too", he went on with a smirk. "You have one in particular that I'm partial to", he said in reference to the little birthmark she had on her butt.

She rolled her eyes, and pulled him close to her, cutting him off with a kiss. She broke off the kiss, and looked at him. "Shhh"

They stared at each other for a moment, until she spoke. "Let's go back home, Mr. Green", she said.

He nodded, and they headed back to the car.


End file.
